Paladins, GO!
by Iisarainbowpig
Summary: After a rather devastating attack to team Voltron, leaving the Castle severely damaged, the small makeshift family retreat through a mysterious wormhole. They exit into a world so familiar yet so foreign to them. And who were these teen super heroes who lived in a giant T?
1. Chapter 1: Retreat

**Hello, children! I will confess...I literally haven't posted anything for almost 2 years now :/. Yes, I suck, I know. I apologize. And I have no idea when I'll decide to update my other stories, so I apologize again. HOWEVER, to you Voltron fans who clicked on this because of the weird and confusing summary...welcome to sheer chaos. Just kidding.**

 **My friend (SilverDewDrop, go check her stories out) and I realized just how similar the paladins were to the Titans and so...we made this. Keep in mind that this is a collab. She pretty much wrote the whole thing but since I am an avid fan of VLD and she had watched only up to like S2... I was the one that provided show information. And the ideas you see down here were a mix of mine and hers. Warning: THE EVENTS IN THE SHOW DO NOT FOLLOW THE CORRECT TIMELINE! By that I mean... they all have their original lions but there are events referenced from like S6 and S7. And another warning: DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE WATCHED TO AT LEAST S7...and later S8 probably. Just letting you guys know.**

 **Summary:** **After a rather devastating attack to team Voltron, leaving the Castle severely damaged, the small makeshift family retreat through a mysterious wormhole. They exit into a world so familiar yet so foreign to them. And who were these teen super heroes who lived in a giant T?**

 **Now read this extremely strange but amusing story (if I do say so myself). And remember, leave a review! We want to know what you guys think!**

* * *

"WE HAVE TO RETREAT!" Coran exclaimed, furiously typing into his control panel. The whole castle shuddered as they took another hit from Galra drone ships. "Paladins!"

"Coran! Allura!" Shiro's grimacing face appeared onto the screen. "We can't- UGH!"

"There are too many!" Lance shouted, furiously shooting one Galra drone ship after another.

Allura quickly typed in coordinates into the castle controls only for an error message to pop up. "Oh no!" She tried a different set of coordinates, only for the same error to pop up. She paled and turned to Coran. "Coran! How are the defenses holding up?"

"The castle can't take any more hits!" Coran yelled in panic, trying his best to maintain the castle's barrier. "We need to retreat! And quickly!"

"The teleduv won't be able to sustain enough power for a wormhole jump!" Allura desperately typed in coordinates again, only for the error message to pop up again. "Agh!" The whole castle shook again as another onslaught of attacks from the Galra hit the castle.

"There's a glowing portal thing right there!" Lance shouted, pointing at the large glowing rift.

"Are you crazy?! We don't know where that goes!" Pidge argued, letting out a yell as her Lion was hit with a surprisingly strong ray. Her Lion spun in the air and despite her efforts to stop it, it made contact with the rift. "Quiznak!"

"PIDGE!" The boys yelled. They watched in dismay as the Green Lion disappeared into the glowing rift, taking their friend with it.

"Pidge? Can you hear us?" Shiro asked. There was a tense silence as everyone awaited for Pidge's familiar high-pitched voice to respond. Nothing. "Pidge!" Shiro cried out, more desperate this time.

"Sh… Shiro?" There was a collective sigh of relief at the youngest Paladin's response. Her voice was fuzzy and broken as if the communicators were malfunctioning, but it was still there nonetheless.

"Are you alright?" Shiro asked, brows furrowing in worry.

"Gu- th!" Pidge said excitedly.

"What?" Lance asked blankly, frowning.

"Rth!" Pidge said again, sounding more excited than before.

"... Pidge, this is exactly what I hear everytime you start sprouting technology at me," Lance said exasperatedly, groaning, "nonsense!"

"Lance," Shiro said sternly. "Not the time."

"Ance… iot!" Pidge muttered. Lance snickered as even he could understand what Pidge meant to say.

"Paladins!" Coran's alarmed voice brought their attention back to the situation at hand. Without the Lions protecting the castle, all Galra drone ships were focused on firing at the castle.

"Quiznak!" The Lions raced back to aid the castle, when with a shudder, the castle began breaking apart.

"Earth! GUYS, IT'S EARTH!" Pidge's voice finally became clear and all the Paladins' eyes widened.

"Earth?" Shiro echoed. It had been so long since they had last seen their home planet.

"You mean that weird, glowing, suspicious rift leads to Earth?!" Lance asked happily, wanting to turn his Lion around and enter that rift immediately. But right now, they had to get Allura and Coran out of the castle before it broke apart completely.

"Guys, go through the rift!" Shiro's face popped up and behind him were a frazzled Coran and Allura. "I have Allura and Coran!"

"What about the castle?" Allura asked urgently, gripping the back of Shiro's chair.

"What castle? It's destroyed," Hunk pointed out, his voice steady through sheer willpower, as Lance was too busy yelling with delight and streaking towards the rift at top speed.

"They're aiming an ion cannon," Keith warned, speeding up in the direction of the rift.

"Quiznak!" The four Lions quickly entered the rift and disappeared just as the Galra fired. They hit the rift, but the ions dispersed as soon it made contact with the glowing portal. The rift closed before any Galra ships could attempt to go through.

* * *

"Pidge, where are you?" Shiro asked as their Lions tumbled out of the rift and above a city not unlike San Francisco.

"Right here!" The Green Lion flew up next to the other three and Pidge waved at the other Paladins cheekily. "It's Earth! It looks like San Francisco or something!" Her tone was a mixture of awe and longing as they stared at the city right under them.

"Paladins, we should find a place to land where we won't be discovered by other humans," Allura said grimly. "If they find the Lions-"

"Yeah, yeah, princess!" Lance waved her warnings off flippantly. "We'll land and then we can go explore! This doesn't look anywhere near the Garrison anyway."

"Lance." Shiro sighed.

"C'mon, Shiro! It's Earth! Aren't you excited?" Blue flipped in the air happily. Lance sheepishly smiled, however, as he saw the exasperated look on his leader's face.

"I found a spot just over there we can land! It's in the forest and just on the outskirts of the city!" Pidge gestured with a paw the small forest to their right.

"Doesn't something look different?" Keith asked, frowning at the city. "Doesn't something feel off about this place?"

"You mean that it looks like Earth and humans rather than the weird aliens we've seen everyday? Remember that one alien race with six eyes and eight arms?" Lance argued, waving his arms to mimic the actions of the octopus aliens.

"Those were the Molluscaius. They're a very influential race," Coran interjected. "It's a good thing we managed to convince them to join Voltron."

"Well yeah, I love Earth and all, but I agree with Keith. Maybe… maybe we shouldn't go down there. I mean… none of us have ever been here before, you know?" Hunk looked at the tall buildings jutting out at them nervously as he flew between the quarreling Blue and Red Lions.

"We're bound to be spotted if we stay here, though," Shiro reasoned, putting an end to the argument. "We should land and scout from there. It's our only option right now. Stay together, team. Let's move out. Pidge, lead the way."

Pidge led the other three through the sky, across the city. They passed a number of odd looking buildings including a giant T on an island right outside the city.

"Is this place like T City or something?" Lance asked, staring at the giant T just sitting there on the island.

Keith scoffed. "What city is called T City?"

"Do you not see the giant T?" Lance frantically gestured at the T just sitting there staring at them.

"Just because there's a giant T doesn't mean this place is called T City!"

"Guys!" Shiro scolded. Keith and Lance immediately quieted down and stared in opposite directions of each other, sulking.

"He started it," Lance grumbled.

"Lance," Shiro said warningly. He pinched the bridge of his nose at the answering pouts.

"Here it is!" Pidge announced, squeezing Green through a few trees to reach a clearing. The Lions followed, carefully navigating in order to avoid slamming into trees. "We're pretty close to the city and we're concealed."

"Alright!" Lance pumped his fist and immediately exited his Lion.

"Wait, Lance!" Pidge warned, but it was too late. Lance was out of his Lion.

"Let's go into the city!"

"And what were you planning on doing in Jump City?" A short black-haired boy asked casually, twirling a long pole.

"Exploring, of- WHO THE QUIZNAK ARE YOU?!" Lance screamed, jumping back and pointing a finger at the newcomers.

"Lance, you need to change clothes in order to be-" Hunk stopped short upon seeing the five teens staring at him and Lance. "Uh… Lance, what did you do?"

"Nothing! They-" frantic gesturing at the colorfully dressed teens, "-appeared out of quiznaking nowhere!" More gesturing of the air around them.

"Oh. One is green." Hunk stared at the short green colored boy who looked suspiciously like a short version of Lance. "I guess this isn't Earth after all," he said disappointedly.

"Maybe he's an alien trying to blend in with his surroundings," Lance suggested, still staring suspiciously at the new teens. He looked closer. "But wow…" He stared at the floating, orange-skinned beauty in front of him. He immediately was in front of her, holding her hand flirtatiously. "The name's Lance." He winked. She gave a confused head tilt.

"I am Starfire," she answered with a giggle. Lance was shoved away from Starfire with a pole as the black-haired, shorter male stood in front of her protectively with a glare at Lance.

"Hunk, did you get Lance, that idiot, to change?" Pidge asked, walking out of Green.

Her eyes landed on a human that looked infused with a robot with his blue body parts and metallic body. "Wow!" She raced to the surprised man and started examining him vigorously. "Look at that beautiful wiring and metal quality!"

Alarmed, the other teens tried to get the excited Paladin off of their friend, but she was literally attached to his chest. so any attack would have hurt him as well.

"Hey!" The short, green Lance yelled. "Get off of our friend!"

Ignoring him, Pidge continued to ramble, "This is the best power source I've seen for cyber technology—not including the Balmera crystal, of course, but that's alien so it doesn't count—and this craftsmanship is amazing! Look at how easily the limbs move!" She moved the robotic limbs up and down as if to demonstrate. With sparkling eyes, Pidge climbed quicker than humanly possible onto the still surprised robot man's shoulder and grasped his face in two hands to examine it. "Even the machinery on the face is-"

"Pidge." Shiro, changed out of his armor, walked out of Black's mouth and stared disapprovingly at the girl hanging off of the cyborg.

Reluctantly, the girl slowly climbed down from the shoulder of the cyborg and sighed in disappointment. "Shiro," she grumbled with a slight whine.

Shiro surveyed the five teens staring at them with a critical eye. "I don't think this is Earth, Pidge. They don't look fully human."

"Why wouldn't this be Earth?" Green Lance whispered loudly to his friend. "Do you think they're a little…" he made a swirly motion towards his head with his pointer finger, the universal sign for crazy. Even the other aliens the Paladins had encountered knew what it meant. They found that out the hard way when they were nearly executed when Lance did that motion while gesturing to the queen of a particularly sensitive race of aliens.

"Who are you people?" the teen who appeared to be the leader of the little gang asked.

He had short black hair that was gelled up to defy gravity in spikes. His outfit was comically mismatched with green tights, gloves, and sleeves, but a red shirt with a giant R on it. He also had a black and yellow cape on and an eye mask that concealed his eyes marched with large combat boots.

Lance snickered quietly. "He looks like a little boy playing dress up," he whispered to Hunk. Hunk sighed at his friend and elbowed him to quiet him so they could listen to Shiro.

"We are…" Shiro hesitated, debating on whether or not to reveal their identities and risk compromising the Lions.

"Who are you?" Lance butted in, looking down—literally—on the teens. Shiro sighed at Lance, but was grateful for the distraction as he tried to gather his thoughts.

"We are the Teen Titans! How do you not know who we are, dude?" Green Lance gave normal Lance a confused look. "We're the good guys! Everyone knows us! Even villains like you!"

"Villains? Us?" Lance scoffed. "We're the good guys! We're the-"

"Shut up," Pidge grumbled, shooting the teens a cautious look. She noticed Keith exiting Red and called out, "What took you so long, Keith?"

"He probably had to spend time making his mullet look nice," Lance taunted with a smirk. Keith growled at him.

"You're one to talk! The bathroom is filled with your makeup!"

"Um… guys?" Hunk asked nervously, glancing between the two boys. He quickly moved so he wasn't right between them when they lunged at each other.

"It's skin care! It takes a lot of time and effort to look this good!" Lance gestured at himself proudly.

"Alright!" Shiro chided the two. "Knock it off!"

Lance and Keith huffed and turned away from each other, arms crossed.

"Paladins shouldn't fight amongst each other!" Coran and Allura stumbled off of the Black Lion. Coran patted down his mustache and stood straight, twirling it. "The Paladins of Voltron must get along in order to form Voltron and destroy Zarkon!"

"Paladins?" the robot man echoed.

"Zarkon?" Masked boy scoffed.

Shiro sighed. No point in hiding anything now. "We are the Paladins of Voltron."

"Pfff." Green Lance laughed. "What a stupid name!"

"Hey, it's better than your stupid Team Titanic!" Lance argued, glowering at his green twin.

"It's Teen Titans!" Green Lance yelled.

Lance rolled his eyes. "Team, teen, titan, titanic, what's the difference?" He shrugged with a smirk.

"Lance, that's enough." Shiro interrupted before Lance angered the strangers any more than he already had. Shiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He turned to the five teens. "We are the Paladins of Voltron. We defend the universe."

"The universe? In these… giant robot lions?" the cyborg asked skeptically. Shiro nodded.

"I am Shiro. I pilot the Black Lion." He gestured to the largest Lion towering over them. She seemed to look down at them critically, causing the Titans to take a few steps back.

"I'm Lance!" Lance pointed to himself with a prideful expression. "I fly the best Lion! Blue!"

Blue purred her happiness, making the Teen Titans look around in surprise and slight fear

Keith stepped forward next. "I'm Keith." He was interrupted by Pidge who held up a hand to stop his introduction. This was the perfect opportunity to do what she had always wanted to do but never had a chance to.

"I'm so emo," Pidge imitated Keith's voice, laughing at the offended expression on Keith's face. Lance giggled and Shiro turned away to hide a smile forming on his face.

"I'm not emo!" Keith glared at Pidge and elbowed her. She continued quietly snickering and patted his arm in mock conciliation. "I pilot Red."

Pidge's laughter died down and she turned to the Titans. "I'm Pidge and I pilot the Green Lion." She fixed her glasses, making them glint.

"I'm Hunk and I fly Yellow." Hunk waved at them.

"They are the Paladins of Voltron." Allura smiled at the Titans. She had changed so she looked more human so her cheek marks were gone along with her pointed ears. "I am Princess Allura of Altea."

Starfire frowned. She knew Allura and the last time she had seen her, she hadn't looked quite as… human.

Green Lance had hearts in his eyes as he stared at her dreamily. Lance huffed and burst those hearts with beams of jealousy from his eyes. He hissed at his green twin threateningly. Green Lance snorted and made a face at him.

"I am Robin, leader of the Teen Titans," the masked boy said confidently. "This is my team, Starfire," the alien girl waved, "Beast Boy," the green Lance puffed out his chest, "Cyborg," Pidge's favorite robot member smiled, "and Raven." The hooded female simply stared at them.

"What is the use of these Lions?" Starfire inquired, looking at the five giant robotic cats surrounding them.

"They form Voltron, this powerful weapon, needed to defeat Zarkon and defend the universe," Coran answered, twirling his mustache.

"What is Voltron?" Robin asked. "And what do you mean 'defend the universe'?" He put air quotation marks around the last phrase to show his skeptism.

"We battle aliens to stop them from taking over!" Lance said proudly, smirking at his cool and awesome job.

"Voltron is this robot that is formed by each of the Lions acting as certain body parts. Shiro is the head, Keith and I are arms, and Lance and Hunk are legs," Pidge explained, pushing up her glasses.

"How does that work?" Cyborg wondered. "There would have to be complex technology and configuration to make five different entities combine into one. And then I assume they then uncombine."

Pidge nodded excitedly. "Of course but this is alien technology and I've been studying it and it's actually very similar to…" she and Cyborg got lost talking about the algorithms and machinery needed to make Voltron. Hunk eventually joined in after listening in order to correct and add on to Pidge's theories and observations.

The other non-technological members of both parties backed away slowly from the enthusiastic duo and Hunk.

* * *

Robin turned to Shiro who seemed to be the only sane and focused one here. "How did you get here?"

Shiro sighed. "Long story."

Robin gestured for him to follow him to the side where they could speak in private and with a bit of hesitation, Shiro followed. "Let's talk." They huddled together in the corner, unaware of the chaos happening between their teammates. After a while, Shiro got Allura and Coran to join in on their huddle and the four discussed the situation and what it would entail for them.

* * *

Lance, on the other hand, had a different plan in mind. Pidge and Hunk could get lost in their nerd talk with Cyborg and Shiro could go off and do his leader duties with the other leader. He had a better plan. He sidled up to Starfire while her boyfriend spoke with Shiro, taking this chance to flirt with her uninterrupted.

"So," he smiled charmingly, "How about a tour of the Blue Lion?"

"That sounds awesome!" Beast Boy stuck his face between a disgruntled Lance and a giggling Star.

"W- I'm not-" Lance sputtered, slightly annoyed at the boy interrupting his flirting.

"The Lions sound so cool!" Beast Boy gushed, eyes sparkling. "Even on the outside they look awesome, dude! I bet the inside is also cool!"

Ego growing, Lance tossed his head arrogantly and basked in all of the attention he was receiving. He guessed he could let Beast Boy ride along with him since he was such a big fan. "They are, aren't they? I guess I could give you a tour…"

"What are you doing? Last time you let someone into your Lion, you ended up chained to a tree and had Blue stolen," Keith growled, frowning at Lance's carelessness.

"Ah, come on! It'll be fine," Lance said waving off his worries. High on the thrill of attention, Lance started leading Beast Boy and Starfire to Blue. "Stop worrying your little emo head," he called to a fuming Keith.

Raven glanced at Keith uncaringly. "... This is pointless." With a flick of her cloak, she disappeared into a puddle of darkness.

Keith stared at where she once was and looked around helplessly. He had no idea what to do now. He hesitantly joined Pidge and Hunk who were still chattering in techno terms to Cyborg. Noticing Keith standing awkwardly to the side, Pidge tugged Keith over and asked him to explain the functions of his Lion to Cyborg. Hesitant to explain everything about the Lions to a stranger, Keith was quiet for a bit before Pidge and Hunk assured him that no matter what he told Cyborg, the information about the Lions weren't really of any use anyway. Slowly, Keith opened up to Cyborg about Red's functions, unaware of the fistbump Pidge and Hunk exchanged behind his back.

* * *

Blue let her head down to let the three teens in and Lance stood to the side with a gesture for Beast Boy and Starfire to enter first. "Ladies and guests first," he said.

Once they had entered, Lance led them into her head where all the controls lay. "This is Blue!" Lance gestured around the lavish interior of the Lion. He took Starfire's hand. "We could go for a ride if you'd like," he said flirtily, winking.

"Ooh!" Beast Boy hopped into the pilot chair and mimicked flying around Blue. "This is awesome, dude! Can we go for a ride?"

"I don't know," Lance said hesitantly, "I'm not sure if Shiro is okay with it."

"Aw, come on! Pleeaaaaseee?" Beast Boy looked up at him with big pleading eyes. Lance grimaced. Maybe if it was a pretty girl who had done that…

"I would like to ride in the big mechanical kitty!" Starfire agreed, smiling at him. Lance felt his face go red. He thought about it and looked out of Blue's screen.

Lance felt Blue's discomfort at Beast Boy in the pilot chair and smiled comfortingly. "Relax, beautiful. It's fine," he said reassuringly. His Lion sent another wave of discomfort, reminding him of the last time he showed people around her.

"Who are you talking to?" Beast Boy asked dryly, watching Lance talk to nothing.

Startled, Lance turned to look at him, forgetting that they couldn't hear Blue. "Oh, sorry. We can talk to our Lions. Or sort of talk… it's complicated. But Blue here," he patted the wall, "is still a little skeptical of anyone in the pilot chair after the last time I gave a tour."

Star looked at Lance curiously. This was the second time someone had mentioned something bad about looking in Blue. "What happened to make this Blue feel so?"

Lance laughed nervously, not wanting to bring up the embarrassing time he got tricked and ended up handcuffed to a tree. "It's a long story. So uh, you said you wanted to go for a ride?" Lance stuttered out, trying desperately to change the topic.

"Ooh, yes!" Starfire said, clapping her hands.

Lance pat Blue's wall. "What do you say, Blue? Wanna go for a fly?"

Blue rumbled hesitantly, expressing concerns about Shiro's opinion. Lance smiled and stroked the wall reassuringly while Beast Boy and Starfire watched Lance communicate with the Lion in awe. The way he spoke with such ease and confidence and how the Lion answered him back with what almost sounded like purrs was mesmerizing. Lance really seemed to be at ease with the Lion, forgetting their existences.

"Come on, Old Blue. It'll be fine! I'm sure Shiro wouldn't mind. Plus, you want to too, don't you?"

Blue purred in amusement and reluctantly agreed.

Lance smiled victoriously and nudged Beast Boy out of the pilot's seat. He started Blue up, Starfire and Beast Boy watching in amazement as controls lit up and everything seemed to come to life. "Alright!" Lance cheered. "Blue's on board! Hang on tight!"

"Yipee!" Starfire shouted as they took off. They soared over everyone and onto the water, skimming it.

"Dude!" Beast Boy yelled joyously, "This is awesome!"

Lance smirked smugly. "Going up!" He pulled hard on the controls and Blue streaks up to do a backflip. Beast Boy yelped in fear while Starfire's laughs grew louder.

Keith, having seen this coming, was ready and dismissed himself from Pidge, Hunk, and Cyborg to hop into Red. He flew to Lance with an angry expression.

"Lance! What the quiznak are you doing?!" Keith's face popped up onto Lance's screen making Lance snicker and Starfire and Beast Boy to jump in surprise.

"Oh, hey, Mullet!" Lance taunted.

"Did you forget what happened last time?" Keith asked, irritated as Lance ignored his words.

"Of course, not," Lance answered flippantly. He smiled happily as Starfire pressed herself against his chair.

"Shiro won't be happy," Keith grumbled, resigning himself to the fact that Lance was not going to listen and that Lance was going to keep doing as he wished until something bad happened.

"Hey, Keith," Lance said with a devious grin, "whose Lion do you think is faster?"

Keith stared at him blankly. "Red. She's the fastest of all the lions," he deadpanned. There was an implied insult of Lance's intelligence woven through his words.

"Psh!" Lance snorted. "Doubt it. Let's race!"

"Ooh, that would be so cool, dude! Race him!" Beast Boy cheered, excited at the prospect of being in a race with giant mechanical lions.

Pidge popped up on their screen now. "Lance, Keith, you idiots. Shiro is going to kill you both. Get yourselves back on the ground!"

"Oh, are you in the Blue as well, Friend Pidge?" Starfire asked, leaning closer to Pidge's image on the screen.

"Uh, no." Registering Beast Boy and Starfire begins Lance, Pidge's annoyance grew tenfold. "Lance! You took more people in your Lion after the last incident?!"

"Yeah, yeah, Pidge. It'll be fine." Lance waved Pidge away and against her protests, blocked her from his screen.

"Sorry, Pidge. We'll be right down. I only came up here to drag him back," Keith said with a sigh. "I'm not going to race you, Lance."

"What? You scared?" Lance taunted. As expected, a vein popped out and Keith growled.

"Grr… I'm not scared!"

"Then prove it!" Lance pushed the controls and zoomed off, Keith following close behind.

The two Lions looped around the water several times and landed again in the clearing with Keith, of course, winning the race.

"Oh my god, dude, that was amazing!" Beast Boy rambled as he faced Lance with stars in his eyes. "We went so fast and there was the other Lions and racing and…" He continued gesturing wildly as if trying to make up for the lack of words he had to express his excitement.

"Yes, that was quite enjoyable! Please, we must do it again later!" Starfire said happily as she flew around.

Lance winked. "Anything for someone as beautiful as you."

Starfire giggled and Blue playfully growled threateningly. Lance laughed and pat the chair. "Don't worry, Blue. You're still the most beautiful of all." Blue let out a satisfied purr.

"Guys!" Shiro called.

"Titans!" Robin also called.

"Come down here, we have things to discuss!" Shiro gestured for Pidge, Hunk, and Keith to join them and stared directly at Lance with an unsurprised yet peeved look. "Lance, get out of the Lion! I can't believe you and Keith just did that!"

"Coming!" Lance replied quickly, exiting Blue along with Starfire and Beast Boy.

After giving Lance the stink eye, Robin looked around. "Where is Raven?" Robin asked, looking around with a frown.

Raven appeared from the shadows behind him and answered monotonously, "Here."

Jumping in surprise, Robin turned his head to face her slowly. "O-oh. There you are," he said weakly.

"Keith, Lance, I'll deal with you later," Shiro said with a dark tone as he turned back to make his announcement with Robin. Lance and Keith shuddered in fear of potential punishments their dad- leader would deal out.

"This is all your fault," Keith whispered angrily.

"You had fun racing, didn't you?" Lance countered with a smug expression. "I think it was worth it."

Keith frowned. "Let's see what you think after the punishment."

They turned their attention back to the two leaders as the others gathered around.

"Robin here has decided to let us stay with the Titans temporarily," Shiro began, addressing the Paladins more than the Titans. He sighed, pushing grievous thoughts of the castle out of his mind as they tried to surface. "We don't know how long that is considering our current predicament… But we will graciously accept the offer and be on our best behavior." He shot a warning look to Lance and Keith who promptly stiffened and avoided eye contact. "I'll let Robin explain the living arrangements."

Robin looked at all of the people gathered around him. "We don't have enough rooms for all of you," he said frankly. He paused for a bit and reluctantly added the next part. "We will have to share rooms," he said with a tinge of annoyance. "Everyone," he said, looking irritated. "Including me."

Lord knows how much Robin valued his privacy. And to have to share rooms with strangers was a very unpleasant thought, but it was necessary in order to fit all seven newcomers. "Because we have seven guests, there will now be twelve people in the tower. We have six rooms." He watched everyone's expressions as he let that sink in. "We will pair up. Shiro and I have decided the pairings already so don't get any ideas," Robin said threateningly, eyeing Lance who was staring at Starfire. Lance smiled innocently and waved at Robin.

With a growl, Robin started announcing the pairings. "The pairings will be… Shiro and I," the only person he could stand, "Hunk and Cyborg…"

Robin, upon seeing the next pairing let out a sigh. Smiling sheepishly, Shiro understood the need for a sigh as even he could tell the next two would be a horror for everyone around them.

"Lance and… Beast Boy." Robin watched the two boys cheer and express their excitement after his words with growing horror. Quickly, to divert their attention, Robin announced the next pair. "Moving on. Pidge and Raven. Allura and Star. And Coran and Keith will share the extra room."

The Paladins and Titans stared at their new roommates with mixed emotions. Beast Boy and Lance were ecstatic, Hunk and Cyborg were happy to continue their technology discussion in their rooms, Allura and Starfire were already hitting it off with each other, and Raven and Pidge just stared at each other awkwardly.

"Wait, why is Pidge sharing a room with Raven?" Beast Boy asked, staring at Pidge with an annoyed expression.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked with a raised eyebrow. He saw the underlying jealousy in Beast Boy's tone and had a feeling he knew why Beast Boy was riled up.

"Pidge is a guy and he's sharing a room with Raven! A girl!" Beast Boy said, waving his arms with wild gestures at Pidge.

Pidge adjusted her glasses, making them glint, meeting the teen's eyes with a blank look. "I'll actually have you know that I'm a girl," she deadpanned.

Lance snickered quietly to himself. "At least I'm not the only one," he muttered, nudging Keith who glanced at him only for a moment.

Beast Boy stared at the ma- female standing in front of him with wide eyes. "Wait… You're a girl?!" He exclaimed, jaw dropping. Pidge sighed. His reaction was exactly how a certain Cuban Paladin acted when he found out her gender.

"Don't worry. Shocked me too the first time," Lance said with a smirk.

"That's just because you were too dumb to see it," Keith retorted. "It was pretty obvious."

"Hey!" Lance cried indignantly, glaring at Keith.

"Lance. Keith. For the third time, knock it off," Shiro said sternly.

"Well, now that that's over with," Robin looked up at Shiro. "We should be getting to the tower. I assume you will be riding your Lions."

"Yeah. We'll need to find a place to park them while we stay here too," Shiro responded with a nod. "You're welcome to ride back with us, if you'd like. I don't know how you get out here, seeing as you're… on an island," he finished, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly with his prosthetic and hoping he wasn't crossing any boundaries with these new, and hopefully, allies.

"Star carries me, Beast Boy changes into some flying animal and sometimes carries Cyborg, and Raven… has her own method of traveling," Robin said with a shrug. He also sometimes wondered why they were located in such an inconvenient location. But it did have the best view of the city, so it was probably easier to spot crime from there.

"Yeah!" Beast Boy cheered. "Let's ride in the Lions!"

"Last one to Blue's a rotten Clorbnapper!" Lance announced, sprinting to the awaiting Lion with Beast Boy hot in his heels. The short green teen chose to ignore the Blue Paladin's analogy in favor of not falling behind. However, it was a lost cause as Beast Boy's short legs were no match for Lance's longer ones. He quickly changed into a cheetah and picked up the pace, overtaking Lance who was first in shock and then outraged.

"Wh- You can't just change into a cheetah!" He sputtered. Beast Boy snickered.

Starfire gasped at the term. "A Clorbnapper?" She said in horror.

"You know what that is?" Pidge asked with a raised brow. Of course, she knew, as she had lived with Lance and two Alteans for almost a year now, but she was rather surprised that Starfire knew as well. Then again, she was floating, so she couldn't very well be fully human, if at all.

"A Clorbnapper is the most bad of all Clorbnapkles!" Starfire said with a grimace.

"Right," Pidge said tiredly, not wanting to be bothered with all of the alien terms out there. "Uh…" She turned to Raven who stared at her dispassionately. "I guess you're riding with me…?"

Raven shrugged carelessly. "Apparently," she said dryly.

"Alright, well, this is Green," Pidge said, attempting to ease some of the awkward tension as the Lion lowered her massive head and opened her jaws wide to allow entrance. She walked in and Raven trailed behind her silently.

"Come on, Robin," Shiro said, gesturing for Robin to follow him into Black. However, Robin was frozen, glaring at Lance and Starfire. But mostly Lance.

"Friend Lance," Starfire said cheerfully, "I am the happiest to fly again in the giant mechanical kitty!"

Robin literally caught on fire. Panicking, Shiro tried to save his new friend from burning, but he couldn't seem to extinguish the flames of jealousy.

Lance felt his cheeks heat up as he ignored Blue's amused chuckle in the back of his mind. "You… want to ride with me again?"

"Indeed, I wish to experience the same joy of flight with this blue cat again!" Starfire answered with a beam.

Lance was quite oblivious to Robin's current atmosphere as he took the girl's hand and led her and Beast Boy back into Blue's cockpit.

Using his prosthetic to avoid burns, Shiro dragged the still burning Robin into Black.

Shiro gave the Lion a comforting pat on her console as Black seemed to scoff at the new presence, already sizing up Robin who could almost feel her palpable distaste. "It's alright, girl, he's with me," Shiro said, slipping into the pilot's seat as Robin made his way to the corner of the chair and gripped it securely, struggling to shake off the feeling of being judged that radiated all around him. The ominous feeling put out his fire and Robin sat there awkwardly as Shiro began to prep for takeoff.

Without a word, Keith walked into Red with Allura and Coran following him with an unsurprised expression at his stoic attitude.

"Hey guys," Lance said, popping up on everyone's screen, "do you guys want to-"

"We are not racing," Shiro said with a frown.

"... Aw, Shiro!"

"No."

"Lance, you're already in trouble for racing earlier," Hunk said with an affectionate sigh at Lance's usual antics.

"Oh, right," Shiro said with a slightly sadistic expression, "I still have to punish you two for racing without permission earlier."

Lance swallowed nervously. "Hunk!" He cried, giving his friend a betrayed look. "How could you?"

Hunk gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry…"

"No, don't apologize, Hunk," Shiro said calmly. "They should have known better."

"I still say it's Lance's fault," Keith grumbled as Red lifted off the ground, flying up higher to allow room for the others to lift off as well. Black followed close behind, pursued by Blue, Green, and Yellow before they all began flying towards the T from earlier, continuing their conversation along the way.

Robin looked around in amazement as they flew. "This is what you guys do every day?"

"Yup," Shiro said with a smile. "With the addition of dozens of Galra fighting aircrafts and battle cruisers…" he trailed off, hissing under his breath at the reminder of why they were here in the first place.

Robin noticed his discomfort and chose not to pry further, just sitting back enjoying the short ride to the Tower.


	2. Chapter 2: Bonding

Once getting to the Tower, the Paladins followed the Titans to their new rooms.

"Tada!" Beast Boy said, presenting his room with a flourish. Lance blinked at the room, taking in the sight before him. Unmade bed, sheets thrown everywhere, pizza boxes laying around in random places, clothes messily covering the floor. He blinked again a few times.

"Woah. Okay… wow." He then blinked a few more times before shrugging. "Yeah, okay, whatever."

Beast Boy's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't mind the mess?"

"Well I mean… you should see Pidge's room. It's way worse than this," Lance scoffed, dropping his things on the floor. He had gotten out everything he had stored inside of Blue and took it with him into the tower. He made a beeline to the bathroom where he cleared out everything near the sink. He began setting up all of his skin care products, much to Beast Boy's shock.

"Dude…" Beast Boy breathed, looking at all the various products now set up near the sink. "What is this?"

"My skin care! You see, I have to moisturize using this in the morning." Lance held up a bottle he just took out. "And then three hours later, I wash it off and apply this," he held up another bottle that didn't really differ from the first other than in color, "and then during the night, I do a facial mask and cleanser to keep my skin soft and supple," Lance explained, still setting up the sink.

Stunned, Beast Boy just nodded along dumbly as he watched his sink overflow with bottles of various sizes and colors.

* * *

Upon reaching Robin's room, Shiro just set down his stuff and looked around appraisingly. There wasn't really any decor or color to this room. The walls were white as paper with brown shelves and the only pop of color were the royal blue bed sheets.

Shiro stared at the bed with an unreadable expression. It was a single queen bed. Robin saw it and cracked a small smile of amusement. "Don't worry," he said, pulling out an extra mattress. "We aren't sleeping together."

Shiro laughed awkwardly with relief and settled down on the mattress. "Thanks."

"No problem." Robin looked at Shiro seriously, taking out a round device with a T on it. "How would you like to help us defend Jump City?"

* * *

Pidge awkwardly followed the silent Raven to her room. It was dimly lit, filled with mystical artifacts and sculptures, a trunk, and a ton of books. A circular bed was in the center of her room with ornate headboard and purple-blue sheets.

Raven brought out an extra mattress using her darkness control and set it down next to her bed. She stared at Pidge dead in the eyes and said quietly, "Don't touch my things and don't make a mess."

Pidge nodded slowly and inched toward her mattress with Raven retreating to her own bed and reading. Pidge took out her laptop and a piece of Galra armor and began typing rapidly. The room was silent with the only noises being the quiet clicking of the keyboard and the occasional clink of metal.

* * *

Hunk and Cyborg had no troubles chattering on with each other about all the technology based things that they could think of. Hunk was amazed at Cyborg's machinery and how he managed himself.

"Wow, you sleep on a computer table?" Hunk asked, examining the 'bed'.

"Yeah, that way I stay fully charged," Cyborg said, gesturing to his robotic parts.

"But you know, it would be better if you used an alternate energy source to the one you're using," Hunk said, pointing to Cyborg's battery with a disgruntled expression. "That battery can't do as much as things like energy crystals can do! I think I have a few Balmera crystals Shay sent me," Hunk muttered, looking through his bag. "Not to mention you wouldn't have to charge them."

Cyborg looked at him curiously, interest peaked. "What is a Balmera crystal?"

* * *

"So, Starfire, was it?" Allura asked casually, looking at the alien girl. "What planet are you from, if you don't mind me asking?"

Starfire smiled happily and rambled on about her beloved home planet, Tamaran. "I come from Tamaran. It is wonderful! I miss Galfore," Starfire said, smiling wistfully.

Allura's eyes widened in recognition. "You wouldn't happen to be Princess Koriand'r?!" She asked, shocked.

Starfire jolted, not expecting her real name to be known. "How do you know this?" She asked suspiciously, her hands lighting up with star bolts. "Did my sister send you?"

"O-oh, no!" Allura said nervously, waving her hands. She dropped her disguise to reveal the sickle-shaped markings on her cheekbones and her pointed ears. "Do you remember me, Princess? We met once when you were really young," she said, tucking hair behind her ear.

Starfire smiled widely and squealed. "Princess Allura! It is you! I have missed you so!"

In Starfire's joy, she never noticed that Allura had pink cheek marks instead of the blue she remembered and Allura also missed the fact that Starfire had green eyes instead of purple.

* * *

Keith dropped his things off in his and Coran's room and headed immediately to find Shiro. Coran, seeing this, sighed. He debated on whether or not to call out to the quiet teen, but decided against it and went to find Princesses Allura and Koriand'r.

* * *

When Shiro and Robin walked out of Robin's room, Keith was leaning on the opposite wall with his head bowed and staring at the ground.

"Keith?" Shiro exclaimed in surprise, not expecting to see the younger teen here. Keith looked up and sighed in relief.

"Finally." He saw Robin coming out from behind Shiro and blinked as a thought occurred to him. He turned to the shorter boy and asked bluntly, "Do you have a training deck?"

Robin, taken aback, shook his head. "No… but we do have a training course."

Keith shrugged. He wasn't picky when it came to training. "Can I use it?"

Shiro sighed. Why couldn't Keith just lay off on the training for a bit? "Keith, maybe you should relax for a bit. We're back on Earth."

Keith frowned and awaited Robin's response.

Robin examined Keith interestedly, seeing bits of himself in the older teen. "Sure. Go ahead. The Titans can take this opportunity to see a new fighting style."

* * *

"Woah!" Beast Boy exclaimed, watching Keith slash a flying disk and gracefully maneuver to avoid five more whizzing by. "Dude…"

"Psh. Show off," Lance scoffed. Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro just sighed as they watched Keith just fly through the course without breaking a sweat.

"Why aren't you guys amazed? He's even better than Robin!" Beast Boy said, flailing his arms in Robin's direction. The leader of the Teen Titans seemed a little put out as he watched Keith finish the course in half of the time it took him.

"Well, for one, Keith is always trying to one-up me," Lance began, ignoring Pidge and Hunk's tired sighs and mutters of "here we go again". "And two… I don't need to ogle at how ' _amazing'_ ," he used air quotes, "Keith is at close combat when I'm the best sharpshooter in the whole universe." He puffed out his chest and grinned proudly, missing the disk that just barely seemed to miss his head. He ducked with a startled screech before turning from the smoking device to Keith's smug look. "Hey! You did that on purpose!"

"Oops, sorry." Keith lifted his bayard to display the red and white sword more openly as he smirked. "My bayard slipped."

"Oh, haha, very funny, Keith!"

"Alright, you two," Shiro intervened, knowing a full scale fight could break out, despite his amused smile.

Keith gave a small chuckle before returning to his original activity as Lance crossed his arms and mumbled under his breath. Pidge and Hunk stayed by his side, biting their lips to keep from laughing.

"Lance," Pidge managed to say with a steady voice, "while I don't doubt your abilities as a sharpshooter… Keith has everyone beat hands down in close combat." Hunk nodded in agreement with a sympathetic pat to Lance's back.

Lance's previously puffed chest at her compliment deflated slightly, but puffed up again. "I bet I can beat his time!" He turned to Keith who was going through the training course _again_ and yelled, "Hey, Mullet! Move off the course and let me have a turn! I bet I can beat your time easily!"

Annoyed, Keith turned his head to look at Lance before sighing and cancelling the course. "Whatever. Go ahead."

With a confident swagger, Lance walked to the middle of the room and stood there. Nothing happened. "Why isn't anything happening?"

"Oh, sorry," Cyborg said, starting the course.

Lance's bayard turned into a blaster and he began easily shooting the slow moving disks. Compared to the Galra, these training disks were nothing. He easily went through the disks and looked at the giant smashing fists. He smirked and raised his blaster and began shooting one specific spot on the fists, causing the spot to slowly break away until a tunnel was formed in all of the fists. He casually walked through and finished the rest of the course with a flourish and easy-going smile plastered onto his face.

"So?" He said with a proud expression. "How did I do?"

"... Keith was faster by a few seconds," Pidge told him. "But you still did really well compared to the other scores in here."

The Titans flinched and an aura of shame seemed to surround them as they were easily beat by the newcomers from space.

Lance, noticing said aura, deactivated his bayard and smiled sheepishly. "Uh...oops. Sorry, guys. Didn't mean to outshine you."

"It's fine," Robin said wearily, rubbing his temples. "How did you go through the course so easily? We still occasionally have trouble with certain parts."

Lance blinked. "Compared to the Galra sentries and stuff we go through up there, this was pretty easy. Really, those Altean training decks pack a mean punch too."

Pidge pushed up her glasses and turned to Hunk who seemed to know what she was thinking and nodded. "We could help upgrade your course," Pidge offered.

"Yeah, Pidge and I are really good at this kind of stuff," Hunk said earnestly, looking eagerly at the large control machine in front of Cyborg.

Robin pondered for a moment and hesitantly nodded. "Thanks, we could use the help. It seems we've been taking it too easy."

"I may have the blueprints to one of our Altean Gladiators somewhere with me," Coran piped in, fiddling with his mustache and still disguised as human. "That would be a substantial upgrade to the course you have here."

Lance shuddered as he made his way back to the others. "Yeah, I still have bruises from the last time we sparred with them. As a full team too."

"But…" Hunk said helplessly. "We would have to reprogram this entire room to cope with the suddenly advanced technology that will be entering it. Not to mention that the amount of power that goes into those Gladiators…"

"We could use the Balmera crystals and just rewire the machine to up the radiator in order to cope with the sudden power boost," Pidge muttered, her glasses glinting.

"Oh yeah! And with the use of the Galra metals," Hunk said excitedly.

"We could create an electromagnetic current to help sustain the particles!" Pidge finished with equal excitement and vigor. She and Hunk immediately hurried Coran to get the blueprints and fetch the Balmera crystals while the Titans stared at their backs, baffled.

"Do they usually do that?" Beast Boy asked blankly. "Because I have no idea what they just said."

All of the Paladins sighed and chorused, "Yes."

"All the time," Lance griped, "and I never understand them either."

"No one does." Shiro sighed fondly with an amused quirk of the lips.

"Did you follow along with that, Cy?" Beast Boy asked his robotic friend.

Cyborg shrugged. "Some of it. But it was confusing even to me."

Lance huffed. "Tech nerds."

* * *

After Keith's and Lance's spectacle of a training course, they—and by 'they', it's just Lance—took pity on the dumbfounded Titans—mostly to show off his skills some more—and showed them a few fighting techniques they had learned while fighting the Galra.

"Once Pidge and Hunk have the Gladiator installed, I'll demonstrate more in depth," Lance says, waving his blaster casually.

"Lance, it's getting late," Shiro said, popping his head into the room. "You'd better sleep. The Titans also probably need their rest."

Lance nodded and he followed Beast Boy back into his room. They spoke for a bit, joked around about their teammates, and Lance applied his usual face mask and moisturizer. Beast Boy fell asleep while Lance finished his skincare. Lance climbed up to his portion of the bunk bed and lay there, staring at the ceiling. He just stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, listening to Beast Boy's snores, and eventually grew bored and slipped out of the room, careful to not disturb his roommate.

He wandered around the Tower aimlessly before he entered the lounge area and walked over to the window that took up the entire wall and gave him a view of the city. It was alive with bright lights and an unfamiliar sight to Lance, who had only ever really seen the smaller cities near the Garrison which was located in the desert in the middle of nowhere.

He leaned his forehead on the glass and inhaled deeply. The cool glass felt soothing on his too hot skin and he leaned into it, closing his eyes.

"Lance?"

He yelped and flailed as he was startled by a curious Hunk staring at him. Lance put his hand on his chest and tried to slow his heartbeat as he smiled weakly at his friend.

"Hey Hunk."

Hunk gave his friend a concerned look as he noticed something off about him. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

Lance's smile dropped and he looked at the ground. "What do we do now?" he said softly.

Hunk's brows furrowed in confusion. He didn't understand the question. "What do you mean?"

Lance bit his lip and and felt the familiar burn in his eyes of oncoming tears. "The castle's gone!" he said shakily, fighting back the tears threatening to drip down his cheeks. "It was… it was our home…" Lance stared out into the city again, eyes fixated on a building that was probably a club, lit up and buzzing with activity.

He fondly remembered how his mamá had forbid his oldest sister from going to any club until she was at least twenty-five, but she snuck out anyway and even took him with her once. His thoughts took a darker turn when he realized just how long it had been since he last saw her and how heartbroken his family probably was. He could imagine his mamá saddened over never using her chancla again, his abuela crying over her lost nieto, and his hermanos mourning the loss of their youngest brother. All of which he might never see again.

"I… I never really realized what happened until now. I was too excited to really process it, but..." Lance let out a shaky breath. Ashamed, he felt himself beginning to break down. He covered his mouth to muffle his quiet sobs and felt moisture on his cheek. He vaguely realized his tears had already began to fall.

Hunk frowned and reached out to put a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "It'll be okay, buddy," he said soothingly, squeezing his shoulder. He felt Lance shake and turn away even more, hiding his face from him.

"Is it really, though?" Lance asked, tears falling faster. He sniffled and wiped his face, but more tears kept falling and dripping off of his chin, landing on the ground quietly. "We don't have anywhere to return to, Hunk," Lance said, his vision becoming blurry with more tears. "We only have Earth…" He blinked away the tears and looked back at the unfamiliar city. "And I have my doubts about this being our Earth…" he whispered.

Hunk pulled his friend into a hug and Lance buried his face into his shoulder to both hide his face and lean into the comfort his friend was offering him. "Yeah…" Hunk said quietly, rubbing Lance's back comfortingly, "but we had to leave the castle behind. We could've died if we stayed…" Feeling Lance shake even more and his shoulder getting wetter, Hunk hurriedly added, "And this isn't all that bad. I'm sure Coran, Pidge, and I can fix the castle. Plus this is pretty close to Earth and we can stuff our faces with normal food and not," Hunk made a face, "goo. We'll buy all the food we can and bring it back with us on the ship so we can just have this large supply of human food!" Hunk felt Lance laugh slightly and smiled at his success in making his friend feel better.

They stayed like that for a while until Lance's sniffling stopped and his shaking ceased. He pulled back from Hunk's shoulder and smiled a genuine smile at him. "Thanks, Hunk," he said quietly.

Hunk scanned his face for any sign Lance was lying and once he was satisfied, he smiled back. "It's no problem, Lance."

Lance felt his face and gasped. "Oh no!" He cried in horror.

Hunk's eyes widened, hoping Lance didn't remember something to make him homesick again. "What is it?"

"My face!" Lance said, feeling his cheeks and forehead.

Hunk stared dumbly at his friend. "What?" he asked disbelievingly, unsure if he had heard correctly.

"My serum from my moisturizer and face mask is gone!" Lance said despairingly. "And my face is swollen! I'm going to have to reapply and hope that the swelling goes down and my skin stays smooth…" he fretted.

Hunk laughed slightly, glad his friend was back to normal again. "I see."

"This isn't a laughing matter! My skin is very important and my skincare is not cheap!"

"Go to sleep, Lance," Hunk said exasperatedly, shaking his head.

Lance smiled again and hugged his friend again, squeezing him tightly. "Thanks again, Hunk."

"It was nothing. If this ever happens again, tell me," Hunk said sternly, squeezing him back. Lance chuckled but said nothing, unsure if he would be able to keep that promise.

* * *

Shiro tossed and turned in his bead, sweat beading on his face. Haggar stood over him, laughing and holding up a Galra knife. "This time, I'll replace your other arm!" she cackled, raising the knife. "Don't worry, Champion. This arm will aid you in the Arena." She smiled. "You'll thank me later." She brought the knife down.

Shiro sat up in his mattress, breathing heavily and arm glowing bright purple. Robin looked at him in shock and noticed his arm glowing.

"Is this normal?" He asked, eyeing the arm warily. Shiro noticed his gaze and smiled nervously.

"I'm fine, don't worry." He turned his arm off and wiped the sweat from his face tiredly. Another nightmare.

Robin stared at him longer and didn't say anything for a while. Shiro assumed he was suspicious about him and laid back down, expecting another sleepless night. He was surprised when Robin spoke again.

"You get nightmares?" He asked softly, knowing all too well what the feeling was like. He himself still had nightmares of his time with Slade.

"Yeah…" Shiro sighed deeply. "I was… I was held in Galra captivity for a year before I became a Paladin…"

Robin realized the familiar signs of PTSD and felt a sense of pity for him. He seemed as if he had went through a lot. Robin knew all too well what it was like to suffer from his past. And from what he had seen, Shiro did not deserve any of it. "May I ask how you lost your arm?" Robin asked gingerly, unsure if he would tell him. He completely understood if Shiro wouldn't. He was a complete stranger after all. They had just met.

"The Galra took it," Shiro said curtly, unwilling to say anything else. Robin noticed his reluctance to say anything further and respectfully kept silent, going back to working on his weapons.

Shiro stared pensively at his arm and felt resentment course through him. He never wanted this arm. But if it wasn't for this arm, he would never have met everyone else. He never would even have survived in the Arena. However, he knew that he would give anything in order to have his human arm back. Even if it meant never meeting any of the other Paladins.

* * *

The next morning, Shiro was up bright and early. He had fallen asleep uneasily and luckily had a dreamless slumber. He noticed Robin was already up and still working on his weapons. Robin reminded Shiro a lot of Keith. They both were quiet, early risers, trained constantly, had short tempers, and were—dare he say it—slightly emo. Robin turned around and noticed him awake. He gave him a nod and went back to working on his weapons.

"Robin," Shiro called out hesitantly, "is it fine if the Paladins use your lounge for something?"

"What do you need it for?" Robin asked absentmindedly, sighing in frustration at his lack of progress.

"Bonding time," Shiro said with a smile. Robin paused. Of all things, he didn't expect that.

"Sure…" Robin agreed, wanting to know what 'bonding time' meant.

"You can watch if you would like," Shiro offered, "it's your Tower after all."

Robin nodded but didn't respond.

Shiro got up and stretched, happily walking over to the door and leaving the room. He could just imagine the horror on the other Paladins' faces when they heard the words 'bonding time'. He walked all around the Tower to collect the other Paladins. He poked his head into Raven's room and dragged out a tinkering Pidge, he woke up Hunk from his slightly deep sleep, and walked into Lance applying his skincare. Then he walked over to the training room and dragged a protesting Keith away from the flying disks. He was just going to collect his childr—Paladins, but he seemed to also have acquired the curiosity of the Titans as well. Everyone followed him around once he had visited all of the rooms.

"Alright, Paladins!" Shiro said, clapping his hands. "Robin has offered to give us this lounge for a couple of hours. Of course, this is still their place, so they'll be coming and going and maybe staying behind to watch, but they won't disturb us. It's bonding time!"

With slight sadistic glee, Shiro watched the amounting horror change their facial expressions. He immediately grabbed Keith when he tried to crawl away and held him next to him.

"Aw, another exercise?" Lance whined. "Can't we have a break after all that's happened?"

Shiro smirked. "We had one planned after the battle, but never got to do it," he said innocently, inwardly laughing at their groans, "therefore, we're doing it now. Now sit down, Lance, so we can start."

Lance snickered at the disgruntled Keith still in Shiro's hold. "Now your little emo butt can't move," he taunted.

Keith slipped into the remaining spot in the circle, right in between Shiro and Lance, a scowl etched on his face.

"So, what're we doing, Shiro?" Pidge asked, adjusting her glasses. She put down the screws and bolts she was fiddling with and leaned back.

"Well we don't have the mind meld helmets," Shiro began, looking off to the side as he wracked his brain for alternate exercises. "So we'll just have to get creative. Which is why Coran gave me these," he said with a smile, pulling out the same cuffs that had triggered their very first successful team bonding session - an all out food goo fight.

* * *

The rest of the Paladins immediately began sputtering and yelling out their protests while the Titans watched in confused interest.

Cyborg, having been leaning against the counter, blinked at the sight. "Uh… so bonding means… metal bracelets?"

"Don't look at me, dude. All this alien mumbo jumbo goes right over my head," Beast Boy said with a shrug.

"I do not understand," Starfire said, tilting her head to the side. "Metal rings are good for the building of the team? Is this another if your Earth customs I am unfamiliar with?"

Raven pulled her hood down to be able to see the now desperately squirming Paladins better. "I think these are more along the lines of alien customs than human customs," she said dryly, despite her own peaked curiosity.

"Whatever it is, watch carefully. These people have proved to be pretty skilled despite their looks. If this exercise seems useful, we'll probably use it too," Robin said, his arms crossed as he watched critically.

* * *

"No way! Nuh-uh! I am _not_ going to be chained to Keith again!" Lance was saying, already leaning away from the cuffs that Shiro had passed to each of them.

"I don't want to be chained to you any more than you do to me," Keith said with a frown.

"I spend a good hour making myself look nice and I don't need your stupid mullet messing this up!" Lance said, frantically gesturing to his face.

"My hair can't do any damage to your face, Lance," Keith said with a disbelieving look on his face.

"If you two are done, we can begin?" Shiro asked, removing his face from where he had rested it in his hands.

"Fine," the two chorused.

The Paladins all resisted the urge to flinch as the cuffs clamped around their wrists before being pulled to each other, connecting them all within their circle.

The Titans blinked at the sight, Beast Boy actually snickering as Lance and Keith tested the cuffs by pulling their wrists apart, only to have them snap back together.

" _This_ -" Cyborg gestured to the sight before them, "-is a bonding exercise? Man is it different up there…"

"This… does seem rather strange. Even for me," Starfire said, blinking at the Paladins curiously.

"So, what now, Shiro?" Hunk asked, eyeing the cuffs distastefully from where they had connected with Pidge and Lance's.

"Robin?" Shiro called to the surprised leader of the Titans. He smirked at the unhappy expression his kids—PALADINS, his _Paladins_ —gave him.

Robin looked at his fellow leader curiously. Did he have to participate in this bonding exercise too?

Shiro nodded his head over at this giant ball of Altean string Coran had given him. "I need you to… tangle us up with that."

"What?!"

"Tangle?"

"Shiro!"

The Paladins' cries of outrage made Shiro chuckle as Robin hesitantly took the string and wrapped them up.

"Don't hesitate, Robin. Tangle us very well," Shiro said, smiling. The other four Paladins grumbled as the string passed over them and around them.

"I don't see why this is necessary," Pidge said flatly, glaring at the string that had fully wrapped her up.

"It's bonding, Pidge," Shiro answered, smiling wider at their disgruntled expressions.

Hunk sighed at all the chaos around him. Lance and Keith were arguing and kicking each other with their free legs, tangling them up further. Pidge was unhappily glowering at Shiro who was smiling creepily wide as the string was all tied up around them.

"Now, guys," Shiro said calmly, "this is Altean string. That means that it won't break. It won't fray or snap. So we have to work together as a team to untangle this." He couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a few guffaws at the blank looks on their faces.

"Shiro, can we really do this all before breakfast?" Hunk asked concernedly. Shiro shrugged.

"That depends on how well we work together as a team."

"Not very well," Pidge scoffed, watching Lance and Keith continue to further entangle themselves.

At this point, Lance had ended up awkwardly squashed beneath Keith with their legs tangled together and their wrists pinned underneath their combined weight.

"Oh, _now_ look what you've done! Now we're stuck!" Lance cried, wiggling to try and get his left side free from under the other.

Keith growled and glared at Lance from his peripheral. " _You_ kicked me first! You're the reason we're like this!"

"My fault!?"

"Who else's?"

* * *

The Titans watched this spectacle with various amounts of disbelief.

"Are these the same guys who beat our course in like a minute?" Beast Boy asked skeptically, watching them squabble like little kids.

"Apparently," Raven said, crossing her arms and leaning against the counter.

"Robin, are we really going to have to do this?" Cyborg asked, looking at the tangled teens with a bit of horror.

"... We'll see what comes out of it…" Robin responded, not so sure about 'bonding time' anymore.

* * *

"Guys!" Shiro yelled, stopping Lance and Keith from killing each other and taking Pidge and Hunk with them. " _This_ is why we need bonding exercises. Now, Keith and Lance, you've just made it harder for all of us. This is why we need to learn to work together."

"Sorry, Shiro," Keith said, voice strained from his position as he grunted, trying to somehow lift himself off of Lance. The string seemed to have other plans. Lance was firmly stuck to Keith.

Hunk sighed and shifted so he could help them try to untangle themselves. After a few moments of failing, he got an idea.

"Pidge, you're pretty small!" He said to the youngest Paladin. She looked at him with a slightly offended expression. "No, no!" He said hurriedly, trying to appease her. "It's a good thing!"

"What does my size have to do with this?" Pidge grumbled, but continued to listen.

"You can use your smaller hands to get in further tangles that Shiro and I can't reach," Hunk said, pointing to specific knots that Lance and Keith were laying on.

"Not really," Pidge said as she held up her shackled hands, "I mean… we're attached to each other, so I have the added size."

"Can you at least try, Pidge?" Lance begged, "Mullet is heavy and crushing my ribs."

Pidge sighed and scooted closer. She pushed the cuffs further back her arm and reached around a few strings to get to some of the other knots. After a lot of tugging and struggling to get between Lance and Keith's very tightly bound bodies, she finally managed to free them from each other. She huffed and blew away some disheveled hair from her face with a peeved expression.

"Don't do that again," she warned, scooting back to her original spot.

"Good job, Pidge," Shiro said, patting the Green Paladin on the head. He turned to face the pouting Red and Blue Paladins. "See, this is what happens with teamwork. Your teammates get you out of tough situations."

Lance and Keith resigned themselves to the bonding exercise, but still sent each other the occasional glower or jab to the ribs as they bumped into each other.

"Shiro, next time, put someone in between those two," Pidge said tiredly after the twelfth time she was shoved because Keith shoved Lance who hit Hunk who hit her.

"Yeah…" Shiro said, looking at the two arguing teens. An epiphany occurred to him. "I still haven't punished them for flying Red and Blue without permission."

Upon hearing those words, Lance and Keith froze, even though they had been mid struggle.

"Uh… Shiro, isn't this punishment enough?" Lance implored, shaking the cuffs. Shiro shook his head.

"This is bonding time. There will be a separate punishment for the two of you. You guys need to learn to get along," Shiro said, smiling deviously at their terrified expressions.

"AHA!" Pidge crowed triumphantly. "Hunk and I are free!" She and Hunk were both stringless and away from the three that had isolated themselves in all of the strings.

"Great. Now help us," Lance demanded. Pidge sighed.

"Hunk… I'm hungry." Pidge looked at Hunk who blinked in surprise.

"Oh yeah, we haven't had breakfast yet, have we? I'll get started on that as soon as we get out of these cuffs." Motivated by the thought of cooking, he freed Lance and Keith and took all of the string off of Shiro in less than a minute. The cuffs fell off, having served their purpose, and before anyone could say anything, Hunk was in the kitchen.

"What did that even do?" Beast Boy asked, staring at the now free teens.

"It helps us work together as a team apparently," Pidge said dully, collecting her mechanical parts that she had been tinkering with earlier.

Lance chuckled and he and Keith made their way to the Titans. "Yeah, the first time we were chained together was when we couldn't work with each other to save our lives, literally. It ended up in an all out food goo war."

"Food goo?" Raven asked, an expression of disgust as to what the substance could possibly be crossing her face.

"You don't want to know," Lance answered her with a small shudder.

"It's been so long since we've had normal food," Pidge said wistfully. "What I would kill to get a chocolate bar… or eggs and bacon," she added loud enough for Hunk to hear.

"Got it!" He called back. The sound of sizzling and the aroma of delicious food and melted butter wafted over to them.

"I'll take anything at this point," Lance said with a sigh, slipping into one of the seats.

"For once I agree with you," Keith added, sitting in his own seat.

"Hunk," Beast Boy said sheepishly, "I'm a vegetarian."

"It's fine," Hunk assured him, "I'll make a separate dish for you. In fact, I have the perfect thing!"

Pidge, sitting on the floor, suddenly hopped up and ran out of the room in an excited frenzy.

"Pidge, where are you going?" Shiro asked.

"Training room!" Pidge called back. "I just want to see something!"

Lance groaned as the smell of food grew stronger. His stomach began telling him that it needed to be fed in order for it to not complain. Loudly. "Hunk… when will the food be ready?"

"In like ten minutes?" Hunk answered unsurely. "It's been a while since I've used normal food. I've kind of forgotten."

"Hunk…" he whined, flopping forward onto the table, "I can't wait that long!"

"Well if you hadn't tangled yourself up with Keith, we would have eaten faster," Hunk said dryly, flipping a piece of bacon.

"I still say it's Keith's fault," Lance said with a shrug, not a hint of remorse in his voice.

"Say whatever you gotta say to make yourself feel better," Keith replied.

"Wait, you said it's been a while since you've cooked normal food?" Cyborg asked, leaning with one hand on the table. "How have you been living this whole time!?" he cried in exasperation.

"Food goo," Lance answered like it was obvious. At the disgusted expressions he got, Lance defended, "Hunk's a really good cook so he could make even that taste good! Coran on the other hand…" Lance shuddered at the 'healthy nutritional Paladin Lunch' Coran fed them.

"So if Hunk is that good at making food goo taste good…" Beast Boy said, a new look in his eyes as he started salivating. Lance caught on and he also began to drool at the thought of Hunk's cooking.

Cyborg gave the air several long sniffs, breathing in the luscious smell of the sizzling meat. "Man, that smells good! I think I see where you're coming from," he said to Lance, smirking.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, homemade scrambled eggs with a side of freshly fried bacon, doused in a light sauce for extra flavor and a touch of parsley on top of the eggs," Hunk said with a professional tone, brandishing plates of steaming breakfast.

The teens all ogled at the food as they had their plates slide up in front of them. It was arranged and decorated to appear many times more appetizing, even as Hunk came around and sprinkled a little bit of crushed black pepper atop the fluffy eggs.

"And for you, Beast Boy-" he placed the last plate before the still drooling teen who stared at it in wonder. "-I have prepared tofu eggs sprinkled with bread crumbs aside the gently minced bushel of greenery ranging from parsley to basil."

"Wow, this is… really something," Robin said, peering at his steaming dish with wide eyes.

"Tell me about it, man!" Cyborg cried through his too full mouth and teary eyed expression of bliss. "You have got to try this!"

"Yes, I do agree, it is quite tasty, Friend Hunk," Starfire said as she swallowed another bite.

"Yum…" Raven said monotonously, but truly enjoying the eggs.

"How have you done this?" Beast Boy asked in wonder, his own cheeks puffed and stuffed full as he stared up at the Yellow Paladin as if he were a god. "I've never had tofu eggs this amazing!"

"Yup, that's Hunk for you," Shiro said fondly, picking up his fork to start on his own meal. "Best chef in the world."

Hunk laughed sheepishly, waving his hands as if to dismiss the onslaught of compliments. "No, it's… really not much." No one believed his humble words, of course.

"H-Hunk…" Lance stuttered, his eyes pouring with tears of happiness as he stared up at his best friend with another bite already prepared on his fork. "I love you so much!"

"Woah! Lance, you okay?" Hunk asked in sudden worry as the Blue Paladin continued to bawl as he shoveled eggs into his mouth.

"I'm better than okay! You made long awaited Earth food ten times better than it would be!"

Keith stayed unnaturally silent throughout it all as Shiro smiled sympathetically and he and Hunk worked to calm their teammate down. Even though he hadn't said a word, a light flush dusted his cheeks as he relished in the mixture of Hunk's genius and the taste of actual Earth food. He would never admit it, but he was in heaven on the inside.

The rest of breakfast went by relatively uneventfully with the exception of Pidge's return as the thrill of chef mastery faded. The Titans and Paladins continued to talk adamantly about anything and everything. They shared stories of space and stories of crime fighting and found common traits between their roommates.

Halfway through it all, Allura and Coran had entered and revealed their true identities. The space mice also crawled out from Allura's hair to greet them. Their human glamour dropped and revealed their cheek marks and pointed ears. This had come as a shock to almost all the Titans before the two aliens were given the time to inspect and be in awe of human food—something alien to _them_.

It came as a nice break from all the action that had been happening so far.


	3. Chapter 3: Beach Day

"Paladins," Shiro said as they finished eating. The four Paladins looked at him from their lazy sprawl on the couch. Their stomachs were bloated and they were lethargic, not wanting to do anything.

"What is it, Shiro?" Hunk asked, washing the last of the dishes.

"Since the Titans have so generously allowed us to stay with them in the Tower, we will be assisting them in defending Jump City."

"Aw, can't we have a break from fighting?" Lance grumbled. "I mean we just escaped the Galra."

"But that means that fighting mere criminals will be so much easier," Pidge pointed out, shoving Hunk's arm away from her laptop.

"That's true!" Lance said happily, perking up at the thought of showing off again.

"Actually," Robin said, "one of the most frequent criminal groups are the Hive Five. They're criminals with various powers that make them harder to defeat."

Lance visibly wilted. "This sucks," he complained.

"They're not that bad, though," Beast Boy said. "They're just really annoying."

"Gizmo is the worst," Cyborg grumbled. "That little midget keeps messing with my circuits with his inventions."

"Are we talking about Pidge here?" Lance asked, raising an eyebrow. Pidge scowled at him and kicked him. "What's he look like?" Lance asked, rubbing his shin. Pidge was tiny, but she could sure pack a punch. Or a kick in this situation.

Robin walked over to the main computer and typed something in. Soon, a young bald kid wearing green goggles popped up on the screen.

"Wow, Pidge. Look at that," Lance remarked. "Someone shorter than you."

Lance's yell of pain made everyone sigh as Pidge kicked him again harder.

* * *

"So why'd you suddenly run to the training deck, Pidge?" Hunk asked, plopping himself down next to the furiously typing Paladin.

"I've analyzed the blueprints for the Gladiator and there was one main problem," Pidge said with a smirk. "We didn't have enough of the Galra metal to make it. Not to mention the metal would easily bend under pressure, unlike Altean metals."

Hunk blinked, frowning. "Oh."

"But I found a way to fix it!" Pidge said triumphantly. "If we melt down the Galra metal with steel and inconel, the metal becomes strong enough to withstand pressure and it won't oxidize in the long run."

"Isn't inconel only for extreme situations?" Hunk asked skeptically.

"Yes, but I'm sure constantly hitting it as hard as possible counts as an extreme situation."

Alarms began blaring, startling the two Paladins who looked around the lounge in a panic to see the Titans rushing out of the Tower. Lance stumbled out of Beast Boy's room, covered in a skincare cream from head to toe.

"Titans, go!" Robin yelled, running out the doors.

"Titans, go?" Lance asked, bemused. "That's such a cheesy line."

"Guys!" Shiro said, dressed in his armor. "It's time to go help them."

"I just applied my toner!" Lance groaned. He walked back into Beast Boy's room to change and wash off the product on his skin.

"Too bad," Keith called, grabbing his bayard.

Nodding to each other, the Paladins quickly got ready and left the Tower, only to see their silhouettes as they flew away, Starfire carrying Robin and Beast Boy carrying Cyborg and Raven by herself, traveling with a shadow disk.

"... So…" Lance said, looking at his fellow Paladins. "How are we supposed to get out of here?"

"We can't take the Lions because they'll be seen…" Shiro said, frowning at their predicament.

"We could take Green," Pidge offered, "she has cloaking."

"That's a good idea," Shiro agreed.

Quickly piling into Green, the Paladins followed their new friends quickly, turning invisible to avoid catching the attention of civilians. They watched the Titans land and confront a group of weirdly dressed people holding large bags of money.

"What is with people here and dressing so weird?" Lance mumbled, looking over Pidge's shoulder. She shrugged and lowered Green's head to let them all out.

"I'll stay here to keep the cloaking and so you guys can find Green again," Pidge said to their expectant looks when she didn't get up to follow them.

"Alright, Paladins, go!" Shiro ran out of the Lion's mouth with a face palming Keith and snickering Lance following. Hunk got up from where he had fallen in disbelief and slowly walked out after them, shaking his head.

"Shiro is such a dad," Pidge grumbled, "he even has the dad jokes."

She sat back and watched the Paladins fight with growing amusement. "I wish I had popcorn," she said, smirking. Green purred in laughter as the two watched Keith and Lance compete to obliterate the criminals.  
There were only five to defeat. A completely pink girl—skin tone and all—with horseshoe hair, the little kid Robin called Gizmo, a very large, muscular man not unlike a mammoth, a guy in a red spandex suit with a bunch of clones of himself scattered around the battlefield, and a bat boy.

"I bet I can defeat more than you can, Keith!" Lance called, shooting a clone of the spandex clad boy. He kept firing until all the clones were gone and the surprised original stared at him in shock. Lance grinned and knocked him back with a shot from his blaster.

"As if," Keith scoffed. He slashed at a bunch of pink attacks the pink girl sent his way. The giant muscle-head was thrown into the pink girl by Shiro and Robin, causing them both to go crashing into a building. Starfire and Raven were working together to defeat bat boy and Cyborg and Hunk were trying to defeat the little kid's spider legs.

Finally, once everyone was tied up and done with, the Paladins high-fived the Titans in triumph.

"You pieces of crap!" Gizmo yelled in his high-pitched voice. "How dare you crud-munchers disable my devices!"

The Titans, used to this, easily tuned him out and the other Hive-Five members were unconscious and didn't have to hear his rude speech. The Paladins, however, weren't as lucky.

"You pie-for-brains!" Gizmo continued spewing, continuing to yammer on with his insults.

Lance sighed. He really couldn't take this. Keith looked like he was about to blow up in anger and even Shiro seemed at a loss for words. Lance may have felt a teeny tiny bit guilty for comparing Pidge to this brat. "... Pidge," he pleaded, "please save us. You didn't fight at all!"

"Hmm?" Pidge said smugly in their coms. "What was that? You want me to help shut up the brat that you compared me to?"

Shiro and Hunk shared a knowing look at the salty tone Pidge used to mock Lance.

Keith growled through the coms. "Pidge, if you don't-"

"What was that? I'm afraid this short tech geek can't hear you."

"I wasn't even the one who made fun of you!" Keith protested, crossing his arms petulantly.

"SLUG HEADS, WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING?!" Gizmo shrieked, squirming in his bonds.  
The Paladins covered their ears in pain.

"Pidge," Lance begged, unable to take the high-pitched squeaking for much longer, "I'm sorry!"

Hearing this, Pidge sat up and walked closer to them using Green. She smirked as she formulated a mischievous plan to shut the small boy up. Sharing it with Green, Pidge smiled as Green purred happily, agreeing to do it.

"Pidge? What the snot is a Pidge?" Gizmo questioned, temporarily stopping his slew of insults. Pidge uncloaked for a split second to show the Paladins she was right behind him.

Lance smirked and pointed behind the bratty kid. He turned around, not seeing anything.

"You slugs-for-brains, I don't see any-"

Pidge uncloaked Green who roared menacingly at him. Gizmo's face turned white and he fainted on the spot.

"You're welcome," Pidge said smugly as her teammates got on Green.

(Later that day, Gizmo would tell his teammates in their cell, "I SAW A GIANT GHOST LION!" and they would scoff. "I think your brain finally started breaking." Jinx snorted.)

The Paladins chuckled and sent Pidge their thanks and they were off to the tower again.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a planet not too far from Earth, a prince sat on his throne with a pensive look.

"Maybe I should go visit Princess Koriand'r on Earth," he mused. "It's been a while since I've seen her." He turned to his attendant and told him, "Go prepare a ship for me."

"Yes sir," the attendant said, bowing respectfully.

The prince smiled. "I can't wait to see you again, Kori."

* * *

As the Paladins flew back to the Tower, Lance happened to glance over Pidge's shoulder and saw what lay under them. His eyes went wide and he gasped, letting out a loud cheer. He shook Pidge's shoulder excitedly as he expressed his joy.

The shaking of Pidge's shoulder made her piloting shaky as she was forcibly moved from side to side, jostling the controls. "Lance, what the quiznak?" Pidge snapped, slapping his hand off of her shoulder. Lance's mood wasn't dampened at all and, if anything, grew brighter.

"Pidge! It's the ocean!" Lance said happily, pointing at the vast blue stretching out under them.

"Yes, Lance. We're currently residing on an island," Pidge said dryly, landing Green on the ground smoothly. Green lowered her head and all of the Paladins piled out, Pidge lingering for a bit to pat Green's wall in thanks. Green gave her a purr in response.

"Holy quiznak, we have to have a beach day!" Lance gushed, jumping in joy.

Keith made an unhappy expression. As the Paladin of Fire… he didn't really enjoy the idea of water anywhere near his person.

"Yes!" Hunk agreed excitedly, looking forward to swimming again. After that one incident with the mermaid aliens, they hadn't gotten to swim again.

Pidge sort of shrugged, not really excited but not opposed to it either. "As long as my laptop stays dry, I don't really care."

Lance and Hunk turned to Shiro with large, pleading eyes. Shiro nervously stepped back. Lance grabbed Shiro's arm and went on his knees to beg. Hunk followed suit, grabbing Shiro's other arm.

"Please, please, please, Shiro! Let us have a beach day!"

Shiro sighed. "As long as Robin agrees-"

"Okay! I'll go ask him now!" Lance shouted cheerfully, running off to find the Boy Wonder.

"He really likes the water, doesn't he?" Pidge asked, staring at the dust cloud left behind as Lance sprinted to the Tower.

"He is the Paladin of Water," Shiro pointed out with a laugh. They followed the dust trail to the Tower where Lance was bouncing around in the lounge.

"Please, Robin! Let's have a beach day!" Lance was pleading to a very uncomfortable Robin, clasping his hands together tightly. Oddly enough, Coran was right next to him, although not looking as desperate.

"Coran?" Shiro asked in confusion. "Why are you begging Robin for a beach day?"

Coran twirled his mustache. "Earth customs. I want to learn what this 'beach day' is."

Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg also looked at Robin expectantly. Beast Boy and Cyborg nudged Starfire to go ahead and ask Robin because they figured he wouldn't say 'no' to Starfire of all people… aliens.

"Please, Robin?" Starfire asked, eyes sparking. "I want to experience the joy of a 'beach day'!"

Robin's ears turned slightly pink as he looked away before mumbling out, "Fine. I guess we could use a break."

Beast Boy and Cyborg high-fived, congratulating themselves on a plan well executed.

Lance let out a whoop and hugged Hunk tightly, the two jumping up and down happily. Lance immediately began to run out the door but Shiro grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"Lance. Change into your swimsuit." Shiro gave him a stern look at Lance's whine. "And put on sunscreen. I don't want you to burn."

"But… but…" Lance said helplessly.

"No buts. Swim trunks and sunscreen. Now." Shiro frowned. "Or else no beach day."

Lance gasped in horror and ran to Beast Boy's room quickly and was back in front of Shiro in less than a minute. He was panting and completely white with an uneven covering of sunscreen but was ready nonetheless. He didn't have swim trunks, so he just wore a pair of boxers.

"If you don't apply an even coat of sunscreen…" Shiro paused, trying to think of something.

"Your skin will be unevenly tanned and ruined," Pidge said, also starting to leave for Raven's room. She paused.

Lance gasped and began furiously rubbing at the sunscreen to coat himself more evenly. Even his love for the water didn't overcome his need for nice skin. He put all of that money and time into his skin looking nice and he was not about to let it go to waste because of the sun.

"Uh… I don't have a swim suit." Pidge awkwardly stood there as Shiro tried to think of a solution for her problem.

"I'm sure Star won't mind you wearing hers," Cyborg replied, looking at the alien princess.

"Oh yes! You may most certainly wear my clothes for swimming!" Star said, clapping her hands happily. "Come, friend! I will show you the suit for swimming!"

"Uh.. thanks…" Pidge said lamely as she was dragged away by a very enthusiastic Starfire.

Having made sure that Shiro couldn't stop him for anything else, Lance hurried out of the Tower, bee-lining for the water that slapped against the sand and rocks. The other remaining members in the room watched as he dove headfirst into the waves, bursting out a second later in a fit of happy splashing and laughs. Hunk's large form was seen jogging over to join his friend moments later.

"Come on, Cy!" Beast Boy cried, grabbing the larger man by his wrist and dragging him through the door. "Let's go!"

"I'm blaming you if my circuits get waterlogged!" Cyborg's voice could be heard as the two hurried to join the swimming Paladins.

The rest of the Paladins and Titans exited the tower as well, dressed in the appropriate swimwear. Or, in Shiro's case, a plain pair of boxers. Pidge was suspiciously not with them.

"Where's Pidge?" Shiro asked Starfire, looking around for the youngest Paladin. He vaguely noticed how little skin her swimsuit covered and how everyone in the tower just had multiples of the same clothing in their closet. Or at least he knew Robin did. Something was nagging at him, but he couldn't tell what.

As his back was turned a light brown blur quickly ran past him and over to the rocks where she was mostly hidden from view. Looking around from her safe spot behind the rocks, she sighed in relief. If Shiro saw what she was wearing-

"What the quiznak are you wearing?!" Shiro exclaimed looking at Pidge's choice of swimwear. She jumped and shrieked in surprise as Shiro suddenly appeared from behind her, scowling. Pidge smiled nervously at him.

"This is what Starfire gave for me to borrow…" Pidge said nervously, avoiding Shiro's annoyed stare.

"You- How- You're showing off so much skin!" Shiro sputtered, looking at her bikini.

"Uh… this is all she had?" Pidge offered, stepping back a little.

"..." Shiro frowned, but an idea apparently came to him and he suddenly ran back into the Tower. Pidge stared after him bewilderedly. He came back a few minutes later, Pidge's hoodie in hand. Pidge blinked owlishly at him.

"Why'd you bring me this?" She asked, taking it from him hesitantly.

"Wear it over your swimsuit," Shiro demanded. Pidge blinked again.

"No. I'm not getting sand in this!" Pidge protested, holding her hoodie to her preciously.

"Pidge," Shiro growled. Pidge rolled her eyes at his stubborn overprotectiveness and sighed. She reluctantly put the hoodie on and scowled, sitting down and pulling out her laptop. Satisfied, Shiro left to go check up on the other Paladins.

Pidge muttered under her breath peevishly. "I swear if I find little grains of this stuff stuck in my laptop, I'm going to kill them all." After a moment of thought, she added, "And if there's anything in my hoodie either, I'll kill Shiro." Satisfied, she went back to concentrating on her work.

Keith watched sullenly as Lance and Hunk splashed each other happily in the water. Having not planned to step foot in the water, Keith had simply shed his jacket and switched his normal pants to some spare shorts, leaving his boots on as to not get his feet all sandy. He watched as Allura stepped tentatively into the water, letting it lap at her legs and torso while Starfire soared happily above before diving like a hunting seagull into the water.

Beast Boy had, at this point, teamed up with Lance as the two boys slinked towards Shiro and Robin who were simply enjoying the feeling of the ocean breeze and the cool water. They had identical grins, only visible nose up, as the two finally made it to their targets. Their intention had been to drag Shiro and Robin back under the surface, but neither succeeded as Shiro was too built for Lance's thin arms to budge and Beast Boy was too short to drag down Robin despite their close size.

The two turned in confusion at the attempted prank as Lance and Beast Boy pouted, very much unsatisfied with their results.

Pidge looked at everyone splashing around in the water and then at Keith. She looked at the water again and then back at Keith. She smirked as she carefully set aside her laptop in a dry place it wouldn't get sandy or wet and snuck up behind Keith. Of course, he noticed her, but it was too late as Keith landed with a splash in the water. When Keith came back up, he glared, intent on getting revenge on Pidge, but Lance swam by and grabbed him and dragged him backwards deeper into the water.

"Oops… Did I ruin your mullet?" Lance laughed, happy that he was able to annoy someone. Keith snarled and lunged at him. Lance was too slow to move out of the way and ended up toppling over as Keith body slammed him, and they both sank like stones.

As they came back up, they were still attached to each other, trying to dunk the other into the water. In all of their efforts to get each other wet, they ended up making everything around them wet. Including a certain Black Paladin. Unnoticed, he waded up behind them and, putting his hands on each of their shoulders, pushed them both down into the water. Hunk noticed the congregation of Paladins and also swam over. He and Shiro shared a look and they worked together to continue splashing the other two boys who tried their best to retaliate. Even Pidge finally waded into the water. She had taken her hoodie off (much to the displeasure of Shiro), but she was short enough that the water covered her up to her collarbone, so Shiro decided that it was fine because no one could see her. He resolved to go shopping and buy his daught- friend a new bathing suit. Preferably one that covered all skin. Like a diving suit. Yes, he would buy her a diving suit.

The other Titans and Allura and Coran noticed all of the fun the Paladins were having without them and also joined. At one point, Beast Boy turned into a giant elephant and climbed up onto the rocks and jumped into the water, splashing everything. Everyone was laughing until they felt a murderous aura coming from the shore.

Raven had been hit with Beast Boy's splash.

Everyone froze thinking that Raven was going to kill them all, but, instead, she smirked and used her magic to make a giant wave that crashed down on everyone. Stunned at the turn of events, they all sat there in shock as Raven smirked.

Beast Boy and Cyborg recovered fairly quickly and glanced at each other as the same thought popped into their heads. "AW, YEAH!" Beast Boy whooped.

"TITANS VS. PALADINS!" Cyborg finished, splashing the nearest Paladin, Lance. They immediately formed their teams, Raven joining in this time, but to the Paladin's surprise, Coran betrayed them by going over to the side of the Titans.

"Coran," Lance gasped as he was hit with a splash of water, "you traitor!"

Coran twirled his dripping mustache. "Now, it's only fair this way, my boy."

There was no clear winner for that fight, but both sides were convinced that they had won and argued about it jokingly as they went back into the Tower as it turned dark.


	4. Chapter 4: Lotor

The next morning, everyone was awakened by a very angry screech.

"WHAT THE QUIZNAK ARE _YOU_ DOING HERE!?" Lance yelled, pointing at the intruder rudely.

"What's going on?" Shiro asked, running into the lounge with everyone on his heels. He was stunned at the person standing in the middle of the lounge, casually sipping a cup of tea.

"Lotor!?" Pidge cried, much to the Titans' confusion.

"Wait… why's Lotor here? Did the Galra somehow follow us?" Hunk asked, hating how he didn't have his armor on him to summon his bayard.

"What do you mean?" Robin asked, suddenly even more tense at the Paladins knowing this new presence.

" _He's_ -" Lance pointed furiously at the white haired alien "-Galran! He's _Prince Lotor_ , son of our sworn enemy Zarkon! And he's a lying snake!"

"But...how?" Allura inquired as the Titans brandished their respective weapons at knowing the true threat before them. All but Starfire.

Lotor made eye contact with Allura and nearly choked on his tea in shock. "Allura?!" He asked, bewildered, "What are you doing here?!"

"What do you mean?" Allura asked, raising an eyebrow as the Paladins moved closer to her protectively.

"Why aren't you at home taking care of our kids?" Lotor frowned and crossed his arms, expectantly awaiting her response.

"My...my _what_?" Allura cried, taken aback.

"Our kids," Lotor repeated slowly. He wondered why his dear wife looked as if she was about to faint.

"Woah, woah," Hunk drawled, putting up his hands and shaking his head in a confused gesture. "Something's not right here."

"Like I said," Lance hissed, his metaphorical hackles rising, "he _lies_!"

Lotor raised an eyebrow at the hostile human. "I have never met you before. Why are you so hostile? Is it a human thing?" He turned to Allura with a disapproving look. "And you still haven't told me why you abandoned our children to follow me here."

"I... _we_...don't have any," Allura managed to say through her fog of incoherency. "I would never… with… The Galra destroyed my home, Altea! We've been fighting with you for months now...none...none of this makes any sense!" She cried, stumbling back into Coran who reached out to hold her steady.

"I don't trust him," Keith said, having been the only one with his bayard, pointing his sword in the alien's direction.

The Titans remained speechless, not really knowing what to make of this with their limited knowledge.

"Friends!" Starfire exclaimed, coming between the Paladins and Lotor. She turned to Allura with a furrowed brow. "Allura… do you not remember Lotor? He played with us hundreds of years ago."

Allura looked at Koriand'r with wide eyes. "What…?"

Koriand'r looked at her sadly. "It appears you do not remember. Lotor was always fond of you and you were fond of him. Once you reached mating ages, you were betrothed," she explained, saddened even further at the growing horror on her friend's face.

Allura shook her head as if trying to wake herself up. She opened her mouth to say something further, but something caught her eye. Lotor's eyes were not yellow but orange. She frowned and looked at Princess Koriand'r. Her eyes were green.

"I see…" Allura murmured. "You are not my Koriand'r." She turned to Lotor. "And I am not your Allura. Nor yours," Allura said, addressing _Starfire_. She couldn't think of her as her Koriand'r anymore.

"What? Now I'm even more confused," Beast Boy said with a groan.

Shiro, having caught on to where she was going, suddenly looked at the Galra in a new light. "Please don't tell me this is an alternate reality," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as annoying memories of Slav flashed through his mind. Boy was he glad that the creature wasn't here at the moment.

"An alternate reality?" Robin repeated. His eyes widened in realization as everything suddenly clicked.

"So you're saying that we passed through a rift made by the Trans-Reality Comet?" Pidge said, sighing. No wonder everything was weird here.

Lance didn't seem to be surprised, much to the shock of all the Paladins. "I knew it," he mumbled sadly. From the moment they had arrived, he knew something was off.

Lotor's only sign of surprise was the slight raise of the brow. "I see," he said shortly. He rubbed his temples tiredly. He turned to Kori with a charming smile. "Kori, would you like to chat?" At the sight of everyone moving to follow them, he added with a glower, "alone."

Starfire and Lotor walked off, Starfire chattering happily with Lotor's occasional hums of agreement.

"... So he isn't evil?" Hunk asked, still looking lost.

"Apparently not," Pidge answered, pushing her glasses up. "If he isn't evil, then I would like him to do a few things for me." Her glasses glinted ominously.

"Pidge!" Lance yelled. "You can't trust _him_!"

"Why not?" Pidge asked. "He could be of great assistance when we're renovating the training room."

"Because!" Lance exclaimed. "He's _him_! Galra! Evil! Remember?!"

"We're in an alternate reality. Apparently here, he's married to Allura and friends with Starfire. He can't be evil here," Pidge reasoned.

Lance sputtered some more, but at Pidge's annoyed look didn't say anything more and sulked, crossing his arms. Pidge rolled her eyes at his immaturity.

"Lance, relax. He's not evil in this world."

"You don't know that," Lance mumbled.

"Why don't we do a bit of bonding to distract ourselves from this?" Shiro asked cheerfully, slinging an arm around Lance's shoulder. Immediately, all of the Paladins had the same reaction.

"NO!"

"... You didn't have to be so violently opposed to it," Shiro mumbled.

* * *

A day after Lotor's arrival, Lance was pacing around in the lounge, still fuming.

"Lance," Hunk said, bringing him a plate full of steaming food, "I thought you would be hungry."

Lance accepted it with a nod of thanks, but didn't touch anything as he still sulked about Lotor's presence.

"Are you still sulking?" Pidge asked incredulously as she left her room for the first time that day. Hunk had obviously been delivering food to her, as shown by the empty plate in her hand.

"I-" Lance huffed angrily. " _Lotor_ is here!" He gestured frantically in the direction of Starfire's room where he was staying (much to Robin's horror).

"He's good in this dimension," Pidge said, sighing as she had repeated that fact countless times. "Why don't you do something more productive rather than pouting about Lotor's presence? I don't think Shiro and Keith like him very much either. But they're taking their frustrations out on each other in a spar."

"But…" Lance grumbled to himself as he gave up on arguing and started angrily shoving food into his mouth.

Starfire's animated voice suddenly grew louder and she appeared in the doorway. As did Lotor, much to Lance's contempt.

"Lotor!" Pidge called out, much to the disgusted shock of Lance.

The Galra prince turned his gaze to her. "Yes?"

"Pidge!" Lance yelled, feeling betrayed by the Green Paladin.

Ignoring him, Pidge asked, "Do you happen to have any Galra sentries or drones that I can take apart and use?"

Lotor looked at her curiously but slowly nodded. "There are defective and damaged sentries that are in my ship to be repaired. But I suppose you could take them. We have plenty more."

"Pidge," Lance hissed, "what are you doing?"

"I'll tell you later!" Pidge whispered as she thanked Lotor. Smiling brightly, Pidge immediately followed Lotor to his aircraft parked on the Tower's roof.

Lance turned to Hunk who looked as surprised as he did. Hunk shrugged at his friend's outraged expression. "Maybe she's asking for Galra metals for the Gladiator."

"From _LOTOR_?!"

"Yeah…?"

* * *

Lotor led Pidge to his aircraft that looked eerily similar to the one he had attacked them many times with. A sentry stood guard at the entrance and saluted Lotor as they walked by. Lotor led her into a suspiciously small room filled to the brim with sentries that had missing limbs or drones that looked like Rover, making Pidge miss the drone that had been so helpful to her.

He made a sweeping motion with his arm. "You are free to use all of the things in here," he said, "I'll tell my sentries that you are to be allowed to come and go as you please."

Pidge's eyes sparkled at all of the metals and Galra technology readily available to her. She grinned at Lotor. "Thank you!"

Lotor examined the human in front of him. She didn't seem to have any bad intentions towards him like her taller darker-skinned companion he'd seen giving him rude gestures or the short black-haired one that glowered at him when he saw him with Kori. He couldn't help but sympathize with her. As someone who was looked down upon by the other Galra because of his size, he felt a bond with the small boy. Even as someone who was smaller than the average Galra male, the little Paladin didn't even amount to his chest. His brethren could easily crush him with one hand with his small stature. Maybe he could connect with this small creature. Kori did encourage him to make friends with other people, after all.

"It was nothing," Lotor answered, putting a hand on Pidge's head as he had seen the tallest human do to the short male. His hand enveloped his head easily and Lotor felt a sense of awe towards the small human.

"This is really helpful," Pidge said, beaming. She had gathered all of the metal she could carry and now stood in front of him, ready to go. She noticed how he stared off into space for a while before responding, but decided not to comment.

Lotor hesitated as if he wanted to say something, and Pidge tilted her head. "Pidge… was it?" Lotor asked in his posh accent.

"Yup!" Pidge chirped, still happy from all of her loot. She couldn't wait to share her findings with everyone.

Lotor noticed the trouble Pidge was having carrying all of the things in his hands and called a sentry over. "Help him carry this," he ordered.

Pidge blinked in surprise for two reasons: one, he thought she was a boy (though that didn't surprise her much), and two, he was helping her out a lot more than she had expected.

"Um… Lotor?" Pidge said hesitantly. He looked at her in surprise before giving her a small smile.

"Yes?" Was the young male about to ask him for friendship? Lotor smiled to attempt to give him a reason to desire his friendship. It seemed to work and Pidge seemed ready to ask him for friendship.

"... I'm a girl."

"... What?"

* * *

"Pidge!" Lance hollered at the small girl when she and Lotor returned. He looked aghast to see her happily chatting and smiling with his arch-nemesis. Followed by a line of sentries with arms full of broken sentries marching after them. The small Paladin stopped short and looked at her friend with an arched brow.

"What?" She asked, noticing his angry visage.

"You-!" Lance sputtered at her before turning his indignance to the bemused Lotor. " _YOU_!" He raved angrily, shaking his finger in his direction. Pidge rolled her eyes at Lance and turned to Lotor with a smile.

"Lotor, can you and the sentries dump all this in the training room? If Keith and Shiro are in there, kick them out." It took a great deal of effort to ignore Lance's angry huffs and stomping in the back, but Pidge managed as she gestured in the direction of the training room with a semi-straight face.

Lotor frowned. "Will they not be angry?" He was also ignoring Lance, but more successfully than Pidge was. Maybe because he got used to the huffing and puffing every time he neared within a twenty foot radius to the Blue Paladin.

"Tell them it's on my orders and, if they want to get angry, to blame me," Pidge said, waving off his concerns easily. Lance let out an outraged screech at their ignoring before settling on glaring a hole in Lotor's back sulkily. Ignoring the glower burning a hole in his back, Lotor shrugged before telling his sentries to do as she said and began walking towards the training room. "Also, Lotor," Pidge called after the Galra prince, "if you could organize the piles by parts?"

Lotor nodded with an amused smile. It had been a while since anyone other than Allura, his wife Allura, had had the guts to order him around so easily.

"Thanks!" Pidge shouted. She turned to Lance and pulled his fuming self down to sit on the couch. "Lance, steam is starting to blow out of your ears," Pidge said in amusement, watching his reddening face.

"You're conspiring with the quiznaking _enemy_!" Lance snapped, finally blowing up. Pidge flinched in surprise, taken aback. Hunk poked his head out in concern, but thinking it was just one of their disputes, he shrugged it off and went back to baking.

"Quiznak, calm down, Lance." Pidge shushed him as she tried to placate him while glancing around nervously. Lance was having none of that. No one was listening to him about Lotor and the last time they didn't take his word for him, he betrayed them all and tried to kill them!

"CALM DOWN?! HOW CAN I-" Lance's words of righteous fury were muffled by a pillow Pidge shoved over his face. Lance took the pillow off of his face and inhaled to unleash more of his wrath when Pidge held up a hand to stop him.

"I have a plan," she said quietly. "So, since he's good in this dimension—"

Lance growled. Define 'good.' Last time they thought he was 'good', he broke Allura's heart and almost killed them all. "GOOD?!" He seethed, scowling. Good, she said. Good. The _prince_ of the quiznaking _Galra_. The one who was both deceiving and using them the entire time he was in the castle as well as harvesting Alteans for their quintessence. "THIS IS EXACTLY HOW HE ACTED LAST TIME AND WHAT HAPPENED THEN, HMM?!"

Lance scowled, feeling hurt that everyone was brushing aside his concerns so easily. Was his opinion so insignificant to them that they ignored the fact that one of their biggest enemies was sleeping in the same vicinity as them?! Even though they were in an alternate dimension, he could still be evil!

"Lance," Pidge hissed, "shut _up_!"

"SHUT UP?!" Lance howled, his hurt intensifying at her demand. Why couldn't they see that he was just being cautious—especially since Lotor had pulled this act of his before. "I'VE BEEN SHUTTING UP FOR AN ENTIRE _DAY_ DEALING WITH HIS SLIMY GAL-"

"Lance, shut up and let me explain my quiznaking plan!" Pidge yelled, stuffing another pillow over his face. It surprised Lance into silence as he mulled over her words. She had a plan. She didn't really just brush off his worries. She was using _him_ and she wasn't just blinded by his silver tongue. A sense of relief washed over him and he quieted.

It was at this point that a disgruntled Shiro and an annoyed Keith made their way into the lounge.

"Pidge, why did Lotor just kick us out of the training room on your orders?" Shiro asked, Keith moodily walking behind him with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Pidge looked at them and sighed.

"Good, you're all here. This will save me the effort of telling you all separately later on. HUNK!" Pidge shouted at the kitchen. Hunk popped his head out along with a steaming batch of cookies. He was worried since Lance seemed angrier than usual and shouted more than he usually did in their arguments, but they seemed to have made up now.

"Yeah?" He asked. "Anyone want some cookies?" He held up the plate of steaming chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven. He set aside a different batch for Robin, Starfire, and Raven in a few containers to give to them later on. He knew Beast Boy and Cyborg would eat them all so he hid them and made the two boys entire separate batches instead which he just placed on the counter with their names scrawled on a piece of paper.

"Hunk, come here with the cookies," Pidge commanded, gesturing at the sofa. Confused, Hunk brought the cookies over and sat down hesitantly. Pidge glanced at the door to make sure no one was coming. She took a cookie and made a face at it. "Also, make peanut butter cookies next time," Pidge grumbled, but still biting into it.

Hunk smiled at her softly. "Will do, Pidge."

Pidge finished off the cookie and looked at the patiently awaiting Paladins seriously. "So the reason I sent Lotor over to the training room was to distract him and bring you guys here," Pidge said quietly.

"Distract?" Shiro asked, furrowing his brows.

"Yes. Because I plan to spend some time examining the Galra metals he brought over and preparing for when we have to fight them again," Pidge explained. It was implied she meant when they returned back to their original dimension.

Lance, whose mouth was full of cookies he had moodily shoved in his mouth looked at her.

"Waf oo mee?" He mumbled around the mouthful of cookies. The Paladins gave him a disgusted look, but Pidge continued, still checking to make sure no one was listening in.

"If I can learn the codes and how the Galra technology works, I can do things such as infect them with an infectious virus or power them off forcibly by the masses. Plus, if I can get information out of Lotor about how their airships and drone ships work, I can find weaknesses and program codes into the Lions to make us invisible to them," Pidge said, fiddling with her shirt sleeves.

"..." The Paladins looked at Pidge blankly. She fidgeted, waiting for their responses nervously.

Lance was the first to react. He swallowed all the cookies in his mouth with vigor and lunged at the surprised Green Paladin.

"PIDGE!" Lance screamed happily, hugging her tightly to him. "YOU AREN'T A TRAITOR!" The seed of hurt he had felt at her brushing him off previously shriveled up and died as he now knew that she had actually listened to his angry rants and taken him into account when she looked at Lotor.

"Ack! Lance!" Pidge flailed, losing her balance and falling back on the sofa, taking Lance with her.

"Wow, Pidge..." Shiro said, eyebrows raised. He smiled at the currently immobile Pidge and cheerful Lance in amusement. "That's a really smart move."

"Thanks, Shiro—Lance, get your quiznaking hands off of me!" Pidge shoved at the hands wrapped around her waist in an effort to get the too elated Lance off of her. She was glad he cheered up, but did he really have to be hugging her so tightly?

"PIDGE!" Lance sobbed happily, squeezing her tightly and ignoring her hands pushing at him. Shiro watched his kids- Pala- no, his kids, proudly before noticing that Pidge was losing air.

"Lance, she's turning blue!" Shiro warned, horrified at the unnatural color their youngest was turning. Keith and Hunk looked at each other and decided to intervene and pull Lance off of Pidge. Lance protested as they pulled him off of her and reached back for Pidge, who was sitting up and taking in large breaths of air.

"Pidge!" Lance whined, grabbing her by her arm and pulling her back towards him.

In fact, he also decided to grab Hunk and even Keith for a large group hug that Shiro also joined with a slight pout at being left out on.

(He would later deny pouting, but all the Paladins saw and they would never let it go).

In the hug, they blocked out everyone else in the world. In the hug, the Paladins felt their worries and the weight of the universe fall away. For this brief moment, it was just them. Just Team Voltron. And nothing else mattered.


	5. Chapter 5: Punishment

"Pidge," Keith grumbled, "when are we going to be able to use the training room again?"

"When Hunk and I get the Gladiator installed," Pidge answered, staring intensely at her laptop. She had downloaded all of the codes from the metals—and by all, she meant _all_ in which she meticulously went through and manually plugged her computer into them and waited.

Of course, Shiro was not too happy about sitting next to her and placing his hand on every piece of Galra metal just so Pidge could download it. And neither was Robin who wanted to talk about 'leader things' to Shiro. They eventually started talking quietly even with Pidge in the room after realizing she didn't care nor hear them as she was too focused on the codes being transferred over. After they started conversing, Pidge also had to manually move Shiro's hand from metal to metal after he got too distracted and wouldn't listen to her telling him to move. Shiro's hand was a lot heavier than it looked, she had quickly discovered.

"When will that be?" Keith pried, wanting to go back to training really badly. Without training, he had nothing to do other than walk around uselessly and helplessly. All of the other Paladins were busy. Shiro was doing tactical things with Robin; Pidge, Hunk, and Cyborg were working on the Gladiator; Beast Boy and Lance were off doing something stupid; and Starfire and Lotor were off exploring Jump City. That left Keith and Raven alone and bored. Mostly Keith though. Raven… he didn't know what Raven did but she was busy.

With no other choices left, he went and sat besides a meditating Raven who peeked her eye open, but then closed it again. When he didn't leave, she sighed and reluctantly stopped meditating, still floating. "What are you doing here?" she asked monotonously.

"Sitting," Keith said awkwardly, wanting to strike up a conversation, but not being able to find the means to do it.

"Why are you sitting next to me?" Raven raised an eyebrow.

He wasn't that bad, if she was honest with herself. She rather enjoyed his presence the most out of all the Paladins. He was quiet and it was a nice change from the rambunctious Titans who always talked to her so she couldn't meditate in peace.

"Because everyone else is busy," Keith replied bluntly, leaning against the wall.

"I see." Raven stared at him boredly before sighing and floating to the ground. "Do you have anything you want to talk about?"

Keith's eyebrows raised in surprise, not expecting her to talk to him. "No, not in particular."

Raven rolled her eyes at his quiet nature. Not that she was one to talk, but it would help if he wanted to open up more. It would be nice if she was someone like Beast Boy or Starfire who were comfortable enough to draw people into conversations easily. Not able to come up with anything, she fell back on her usual pessimistic sarcasm. "Why don't we share our deepest, darkest secrets then?" she asked dryly, also leaning into the wall.

Keith snorted. "Yeah, why not?" he responded with equal sarcasm. "I'll do it if you will."

Raven found her lips curling up involuntarily. It seems they had more in common than their quietness. "For instance," she said nonchalantly, not expecting him to take her seriously. "I'm the daughter of a demonic overlord named Trigon."

"Oh really?" Keith said challengingly with a raised eyebrow, playing along… sort of. It's not like she would know it's true. "I'm part Galra, the race that's set to take over the universe and all of my friends hate."  
They exchanged amused glances and sat back in companionable silence. Raven spoke up, curious, since she didn't feel that he was lying about the Galra thing. "You mean that you're related to that prince staying with us?"

Keith grimaced. "Partially." By his mother.

"At least, that's assuming you're telling the truth," Raven said, staring straight ahead of them. Her next statement surprised both of them. "I was." She wasn't expecting to open up to this stranger, but something compelled her to. Maybe it was their similar situation in life or their shared personality, but she wanted to befriend the Red Paladin.

Keith stared at her with an unreadable look on his face before also looking straight ahead. "... I was telling the truth," he admitted. He laughed lowly. "I guess we have a lot in common," he said, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Yeah, we have both have evil blood," Raven said with a tinge of pessimistic humor.

Keith smiled crookedly. "Not to mention that we both have an annoying member of the team constantly bothering us."

Raven snickered, thinking of the two idiots that were probably trying to set up a prank somewhere in the tower. "And the tech junkie," she added.

"And the alien Princess."

"The bossy leader as well."

They exchanged small smiles. They really did have more in common than they thought.

"Keith!" Pidge ran up to them, face streaked with grease and a few scratches that Raven assumed was from dealing with sharp metals. "The training room is open now, if you want it. We installed the Gladiator."

Keith nodded, with a slight crease in his brow at the sight of the scratches, and got up. He smiled at Raven who started floating again to resume meditating. "See you around?" He asked her, surprising Pidge.

"See you around," Raven confirmed, smirking. She was actually looking forward to their next conversation. As they left, she noticed Keith wiping at Pidge's cheek.

"Keith!" She heard Pidge whine.

"You need to be more careful and not hurt yourself!" Keith scolded, very reminiscent of an older brother.

"It's just a scratch!"

Raven listened to the two bicker like actual siblings with amusement. Maybe next time they could talk about their relationship with their teammates. Or even stupid things their teammates got themselves into.

* * *

"Wow!" Beast Boy marveled, watching Keith fight the Gladiator. "This is awesome!"

"This is what you guys did everyday to train?" Robin asked, looking impressed at the fluid movements of Keith's sword.

Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven were crowded around the controls, watching through a panel as Keith sparred with the Gladiator. Starfire and Lotor were off again after dropping something off for Shiro. Cyborg had long since retired to his room with all of the new technology literally frying circuits.

"This is what _Mullet_ does everyday to train," Lance corrected. "He's the one addicted to training."

Keith walked out of the training room. "There seem to be no issues with the Gladiator," he reported, only having been called in to test the new addition to the training room.

"Thank god!" Pidge muttered, rubbing her face. She and Hunk slumped onto each other in relief. "That was a lot of work."

"Really?" Shiro asked in concern, seeing how tired she and Hunk were.

"Yeah, we had to rewire the entire training room, melt the metals, and then find other alloys to make this metal stronger, and then wire the inside of the Gladiator, and then find a way to put the Balmera crystals in there, and then we had to give its joints enough room to be able to move freely and easily," Hunk listed, counting off of his fingers. "Plus, Coran's instructions were completely useless!" he grumbled. "Like what is a mindelwop?"

"It's the onnclap next to the snoberkok," Coran answered primly, fiddling with his mustache. Hunk and Pidge sighed and gave each other annoyed looks. That response literally cleared up nothing. Even after a year, they were never quite sure what all these Altean terms were.

"Well, you guys did a good job," Shiro said. "And you two should go and rest." He placed his hand on Pidge and Hunk's shoulders.

They nodded and Pidge didn't even argue as they trudged away to their respective rooms. Once they were gone, Shiro's smile went from proud to slightly demonic. The Titans watched in somewhat awe as Keith and Lance, two of the most skilled fighters they had seen, cowered before Shiro.

"Now, I've been meaning to do this, but we didn't have the resources," Shiro said to a suddenly pale Keith and Lance. "Thankfully, Starfire bought it for us in the city earlier and was kind enough to drop it off." He held up a very large white t-shirt with 'Get along shirt' scrawled on it in permanent marker in Shiro's writing.

"What is that?" Lance asked fearfully. Keith swallowed nervously and started backing away.

"Keith, Lance," Shiro said cheerfully, "you will wear this for the next few hours until you learn how to get along!"

"What?! Shiro!" Keith yelled, scowling. Shiro smirked at him.

"I have to be stuck with _Mullet_?!" Lance shrieked.

Keith gave him a sour look. "It's not like I want to be stuck to you either."

"This," Shiro said with a disapproving look at their bickering, "is why you need to do this." He tossed the shirt at them. "Now put it on."

Reluctantly, Keith slipped into the shirt and put an arm through one of the arm holes while Lance put an arm through the other. Shiro smiled victoriously as they awkwardly stood there, stretching the shirt out with their combined body size.

"Ugh!" Lance gagged, wrinkling his nose. "You're sweaty!"

"Yeah, I just fought the Gladiator," Keith shot back, frowning. He wasn't that sweaty, was he? If he got that sweaty from levels one and two, maybe he needed to train more.

"You're going to clog my pores and give me pimples!" Lance sobbed, trying to get as far away from Keith as possible in the tight shirt. "And your mullet!"

A vein throbbed in Keith's forehead. "Leave my hair out of this!"

"GUYS!" Shiro yelled. They froze and looked at their leader. He rolled his eyes at their fearful stances. "The sooner you two get along with each other, the sooner you can get out of this shirt." With Keith's head turned to Shiro, that meant Lance got a faceful of black hair.

"Mullet, get your mullet out of my face!" Lance yelled, pushing at Keith.

Keith growled. "It's not like I can help it! This shirt is small!"

Shiro sighed and walked out of the training room. The Titans followed, still somewhat startled by their petty arguments.

* * *

"Why can't we switch sides?" Lance yelled at Keith while they tried to cut a steak Shiro had cooked for them.

The Titans watched, entertained, as the two struggled. Beast Boy shoved a piece of cauliflower steak in his mouth and held back a laugh as Keith smacked Lance's hand with the back of the fork. Hunk and Pidge were still passed out in their rooms so Shiro had to take over cooking. It wasn't good by any means, but… it was better than Coran's or Starfire's. It was a miracle that Hunk and Pidge stayed asleep with all of the noise Lance and Keith were making.

"Because I went in the shirt first," Keith answered, growling at Lance's inability to cut the steak. "Give me the knife!"

"No!" Lance shot back, clutching the knife to him tightly. Keith tried to grab for the knife, but Shiro took it out of Lance's hands with a disappointed look in his eyes.

"You two are going to hurt yourselves."

"He started it!" Lance mumbled.

Keith snarled, "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be in this situation in the first place!"

"You decided to join in of your own free will!"

"You-"

"Lance! Keith!" Shiro frowned at the two squabbling in the shirt. "You will be like this until tomorrow if you keep this up."

Lance and Keith turned away from each other with matching pouts. Shiro sighed. "Let's make a deal." Not caring if they were listening or not, Shiro continued. "If you can go an hour without arguing, I'll let you two out of the shirt. Can you do that?"

Keith and Lance glared at each other. "If Mullet doesn't do anything, I'm sure we will have no problems," Lance remarked with a toss of his head.

"You're the problem," Keith retorted frostily. Shiro shook his head tiredly at the newest argument between the two. The doors to the lounge slid open and a light brown head of hair popped into everyone's peripheral vision.

"Waz goin on?" Pidge yawned, shuffling into the room.

"Pidge! Are you feeling less tired now?" Shiro asked, getting her a plate of food. She nodded, rubbing her eyes. Her eyes sweeped the room and eventually landed on her teammates. She looked at Keith and Lance for a moment and then took the plate from Shiro without taking her eyes off of them.

"Why…" She sighed. She didn't even need to ask the reason they were like this. "This is for the Lion incident, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Shiro said, watching the two still unhappy boys closely. "I told them that if they manage to not argue for an hour, they could get out." He sighed as they started arguing again. "But I don't even know if that's possible."

Pidge shrugged. "You just have to convince them."

Shiro gave her a dubious look. "How?"

Pidge walked over to the two and tapped Keith on the shoulder. Why Keith? He was easier to reach. "I bet you guys can't last an hour without arguing," she said confidently.

Lance scoffed, rivalry with Keith pushed aside momentarily for his pride. "What makes you think that?"

"We can do that!" Keith agreed, his competitive nature beginning to show. Even if it meant cooperating with Lance, he was willing to do it in order to prove Pidge wrong.

"Well, I don't think so," Pidge said snidely, eating a piece of steak. She watched smugly as Lance's and Keith's competitiveness pushed down any desire for them to argue and they glared at her, which made a really funny sight, as they were still in an oversized shirt with their heads pushed together.

"We can!" Lance declared. Keith nodded and they both sat quietly, grumbling to each other about how they totally could get along for an hour.

"Well, if you say so," Pidge hummed, driving the point home. And Lance and Keith were silent as they fumed over Pidge's words. Pidge smirked at Shiro victoriously and walked back to her room.

Shiro shook his head in amazement. "The fact that they fell for such an obvious trick…" He sighed and didn't question it as he cleaned up the plates and started the timer for an hour.

"Pidge really did get all the brains," Cyborg remarked, watching the Red and Blue Paladins sulk in the corner.

* * *

An hour later, Lance and Keith were out of the shirt and grinning victoriously at an exasperated Pidge. True to their word, they didn't even say anything remotely like an insult. It was actually rather creepy to those who watched (aka Shiro) as they were sickeningly nice to each other.

 _"Pass me the salt, Keith, sweetie?" Lance cooed, saccharine sweet._

 _Keith smiled back, just as fakely, "Of course, Lance,"_

 _"Thank you, Keith, honey. I appreciate you so much." Lance made a gesture at Keith under the shirt, the look in his eyes telling Keith to sell the act a bit more. Keith blinked and tried to act even faker than he had._

 _"It was no problem… my dearest?" Keith's hesitancy made it sound more like a question, but it was quickly covered up by Lance's muffled chuckles. Under the shirt, Keith's arm twitched as if wanting to jab Lance, but he refrained through sheer willpower as he did not want to be stuck in this shirt for any longer._

 _Shiro shuddered in horror, now wishing they would just go back to their normal treatment of each other, however annoying._

"See, Pidge! We could totally do it," Lance boasted.

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Wow," she droned, "shocker."

"You should never have doubted us!"

"Oh, my mistake."

"We totally won the bet!"

"Congrats."

Shiro sighed at the spectacle as Lance and Keith stayed completely oblivious to Pidge's tactic. "They should be thanking her…" he muttered to himself. He just hoped he never saw that side of Keith and Lance again.

* * *

During that spectacle, Starfire and Lotor were still in the city, relaxing on a hilltop after a long day of sightseeing.

Although content with their companionable silence, Starfire broke it in order to catch up with her friend she had not seen in many years. "Lotor, how is your Allura?" Starfire asked, taking care to specify after the whole incident with the other Allura. They did not want a repeat of that spectacle.

They had switched back to their native language to help Starfire with her grammar and to help Lotor feel more comfortable on Earth, so far from his home planet. To anyone listening in, it was gibberish. To Lotor, it was a reminder of home and to Starfire, a life she had left behind.

"She is fine," Lotor said, smiling at the thought of his wife. "In fact, I believe she is hiding another pregnancy from me." His wife thought him a fool if she thought he didn't notice her larger stomach and mood swings. It appeared that aliens did have some things in common with humans after all.

"Ooh, another baby?!" Starfire squealed, hugging her old friend. Lotor's expression turned a bit guilty.

"Yes… I should get back to them soon… I would hate to miss her birth," Lotor uttered softly, looking at the vast sky above them. "I haven't been a great father lately…"

"Why do you think that?" Starfire asked, pulling back from the one-sided hug with a frown.

"I have ignored them because of my work and then I took this trip here without them… I fear I am neglecting them, Kori." Lotor sighed, running a hand through his long hair. Allura always loved playing with his hair whenever she was stressed. It helped her calm down. Maybe it would help him too.

"Lotor, don't say that!" Starfire scolded. "You are a wonderful father. Your three children and your wife would agree completely."

"I know, it is just that…" Lotor sighed, putting his head in his hands. "I know I am being ridiculous."

"Lotor," Starfire said, stern but gentle, "you need to stop doubting yourself." She lay a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"Thank you, Kori," Lotor said. "I wonder what would have happened to me without you or Allura. In a world where I did not leave my parents behind with their evil schemes."

The Voltron Paladins knew exactly what would have happened. In this universe, however, Lotor had actually been the weapon to defeating the Galra. All he had to do was alert the Paladins of his father's scheming before he lured them to their deaths. An easy way to avoid catastrophe.

"Well, this is the world we are currently living in," Starfire said determinedly, squeezing his shoulder with her famous strength. To any human, it would have easily crushed their shoulder. To Lotor, this was nothing more than a pinch. "No other world is as good as this one now."

"You are right. I should stop dwelling on this," Lotor agreed, patting Starfire's hand that was clasping his shoulder. They stayed in silence for a while, basking in each other's presence. It was Starfire who broke it again.

"On a lighter note," Starfire said with a teasing glint in her eyes, "I have noticed you and Pidge forming a friendship."

"Yes," Lotor said with a bit of amusement, "I do not think she quite trusts me yet, however."

"It would do you well to have some other friends that are not just me and your family," Starfire teased, nudging his shoulder.

"Why would I need anyone else, Kori? I just need you guys in my life," Lotor responded. He noticed how dark the sky was getting and got up, dusting himself off. He offered a hand to help Starfire up. "I have to go back to my family now. It has been a nice time seeing you again, Kori. You should also go back to your mate."

Starfire blushed as red as her hair. "Robin is not my mate!"

"I never specified it was the short spiky one, did I?"


	6. Chapter 6: Halloween Special

"So you guys," Beast Boy said with a mischievous grin, "I think it's finally time to watch the long awaited movie!"

"You mean?" Cyborg gasped, his eyes sparkling as he took in the plastic cover Beast Boy held in his hand.

"Yes," Beast Boy said, nodding sagely. "The one and only…" He paused dramatically, his short hair billowing around his head. "WICKED SCARY!"

"What kind of generic name is that?" Raven scoffed.

"That sounds terrible," Pidge agreed. She pushed up her glasses. "And I have seen many terrible horror films with," she sighed, groaning when she saw Lance inch closer to her expectantly, "Lance and Hunk."

Lance puffed his chest out proudly. "Yes! I am a connoisseur of-"

"You nearly fainted when someone got a small stab," Pidge deadpanned.

Lance huffed, affronted. "I did not!" He added a bit sheepishly, "And a stab wound is faint worthy! Besides, so did Hunk."

"In my defense... I have a weak stomach!" Hunk protested.

"Didn't we watch this last year?" Robin asked, jumping over the back of the couch, popcorn in hand.

"Well… it's tradition now!" Beast Boy declared, sticking the disk in the computer and jumping back on the couch.

"We only watched it once last year," Robin pointed out.

"Well- It's tradition now!" Beast Boy said, crossing his arms. "And the Paladins haven't seen it so we _have_ to watch it with them!"

"Shh, the movie's starting!" Lance hurriedly sprinted and turned off the lights before diving back in his spot between Pidge and Hunk and hugging a pillow to himself.

"These special effects are quite pathetic," Pidge remarked as a generic terrified female's scream echoed in the background. "That lighting is terrible and so are the sound effects."

Lance whimpered and pulled the pillow up to his face, just barely exposing his eyes as he sat there, shaking like a leaf. He yelped into the pillow at a jump scare and leaned into Hunk who was covering his face and refusing to look at the screen.

"You two are pitiful," Pidge grumbled, shifting slightly. "Shiro's fallen asleep!" She gestured to the snoring Black Paladin curled up on the opposite couch.

"You guys need to quiet," Keith muttered, looking way too interested in the movie, smiling almost evilly at the screen despite his obvious fear, "the climax is coming up."

"Keith, you're also trembling." Pidge sighed, feeling the couch cushion next to her shake as Keith tried to hide his anxiety and failed miserably.

"Ha, you're not so tough after all, Mullet!" Lance's triumphant statement was cut short by his small scream.

"Yeah, but he's trembling in anticipation, Lance," Pidge said, rolling her eyes as Keith's eyes seemed to glisten at the appearance of the murderer on screen.

"Mmhaniw!" Lance muffled into the pillow. "Mullfef if skaojoi!"

"I'm not even going to guess what you were trying to say." Pidge sighed, sinking deeper into the couch cushions.

"And that's the end of the movie!" Beast Boy announced, turning the lights back on.

"That was… a pitiful attempt at scaring us," Pidge complained. "I've seen specks of dust scarier than that."

"Hmph! Fine! I'll think of something scarier then!" Beast Boy huffed. He got a gleam in his eye. "I'll get an evil spirit to haunt the Tower!"

"Will you?" Pidge asked, unimpressed. "You can't have Raven help you."

"Dang it- I mean- I don't need Raven's help!" Beast Boy stuck his tongue out. "I'll do it! Just you wait!"

Pidge smiled. "I'll be waiting to be scared."

* * *

Pidge entered the lounge area the next morning, rubbing sleep tiredly from her eyes. She had decided to stay up the night before and the lack of rest was starting to take its toll.

She walked in to find Shiro nodding over a cup of coffee, stirrer swishing the liquid sluggishly and pausing briefly when he dozed off for a few seconds. She was amused to find Lance curled up in the corner of the couch, his hair dishevelled and a pillow clutched to his chest as he stared blankly ahead. He had at least bothered to do his skin care though. She didn't even bother to notify him of Beast Boy who crept soundlessly up behind him, grinning.

"BOO!"

"AHH!" Lance shot upright so fast he actually tumbled off the couch, groaning as Beast Boy burst into a fit of laughter before helping the guy out. "I told you I couldn't sleep last night because of those stupid nightmares!" he cried, smacking the pillow against the shorter boy's face in retaliation.

"I enjoyed it," Keith piped in, sipping his own coffee with a grimace at the bitter taste. He poked Shiro awake _again_ , shooting him a sympathetic smile.

"Don't worry, Shiro," Hunk called from the kitchen, flipping a pancake he was making in the pan, "breakfast is sure to get you up."

"Hope so," he drawled in response, finally setting aside his stirrer and actually taking a sip from his caffeinated drink.

"Why are you so tired?" Pidge asked, sliding beside her leader and giving him an amused but concerned look. "Didn't you sleep during the movie?"

"I did," Shiro said, slightly more awake thanks to his coffee. "But that's all the sleep I got."

Keith cringed. He gave Shiro a pitying pat on the shoulder.

Lance slid into the seat on the other side of Shiro, dropping his head on the table with a muffled groan. Keith snickered.

"What are you laughing at, Mullet?" He glared at the Red Paladin, lifting his head so his chin rested on the counter instead.

"And here you were the one saying you were a connoisseur of horror films."

"Well, Keith, I never got to finish my sentence. So no, I didn't say that," he responded with a shrug and a frown.

Keith's grin never fell despite his own shrug. "Whatever you say," he sighed, watching the contents of his mug swirl as he shook it. He opted to take an exaggerated sip of the drink instead of responding to Lance's scowl.

They all watched as a small mug was engulfed in black energy, lifting off the counter and flying over to another portion of the kitchen to be filled by a floating kettle of tea before hovering over and landing in Raven's waiting hands. She looked blankly at the Paladins who stared at her for a few moments more than necessary.

"What?"

Lance leaned back on the table and gave her a thoughtful look. "You know," he began, gesturing vaguely at the girl, "I always saw you more of a black coffee kind of person."

"Herbal tea," she responded curtly, turning and walking over to the couch to pick up her discarded book.

"Good morning, Paladins," Allura greeted cheerily as she entered, Coran behind her and Starfire flying in beside her.

"Well you're definitely the most awake out of all of us," Pidge grumbled. She paused. "Besides Keith, that is."

"Well we Alteans do not require as much sleep, Number Five!" Coran answered with a twirl of his mustache.

"Of course," she sighed.

"I had a good rest as well!" Starfire chimed in, clapping her hands and turning to greet Cyborg and Robin as they entered.

Beast Boy waltzed into the kitchen, whistling.

"Did you succeed in your efforts to get an evil spirit to haunt us?" Pidge drawled lazily.

Beast Boy grinned at her confidently. "Actually, I did!" he said proudly.

Pidge raised an eyebrow. "Did you really?"

"Yup! I did it all by myself!" Beast Boy's nose was high in the air as he smirked.

The lights in the kitchen ominously flickered. Lance stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes, muttering about haunted castle ships while Beast Boy's haughty look wavered for a split second.

"Did your spirit friend do that?" Pidge asked with a strangely smug expression.

"... Yes!" Beast Boy said a bit too quickly to seem legit. "In fact… he'll do it again right now!" Beast Boy paused and awaited nervously. Nothing happened. "Now!" Still nothing. "Now!"

"Woow." Pidge snickered. "Some spirit you've got."

"Well… he's just being a little disobedient," Beast Boy assured hastily. "He'll actually make the lights flicker now!"

True to his word, the lights flickered once more. Beast Boy's jaw dropped before he wiped the shocked look off of his face and gave Pidge a proud look. "I told you so."

Pidge scoffed. "Coincidence."

"No it's not!"

"Guys," Shiro said tiredly. "Let's go train for a bit. I need to wake myself up somehow." He glared half heartedly down at the empty mug. "Coffee didn't work."

"Okay, Shiro!" Pidge chirped perkily, practically skipping to the training room.

"What's with her?" Lance asked, making a weird face. "She's usually some demonic hell spawn in the mornings."

"Well, it _is_ Halloween. Maybe she's different at this time of year," Hunk said, setting down the plate of fresh pancakes on the counter. "I just made these too," he muttered but removed his apron anyway and moved to leave the kitchen.

Shiro shrugged and trudged to the training room, putting his mug down on the counter. "Come on."

"I'll prove you wrong," Beast Boy muttered sulkily at the retreating back of Pidge. "Be prepared for the scariest Halloween ever!"

"Beast Boy, she's too far away to hear you right now," Robin said, rolling his eyes at Beast Boy's dramatics.

* * *

Keith walked into the showers feeling filthy and just coated in sweat and grime. His shirt clung annoyingly to his chest and he peeled it off with a disgusted face. He discarded it on the bathroom sink counter. He turned the faucet to turn on the water and started undressing when he noticed that the familiar sound of water rushing out and hitting the tub floor wasn't resounding through the room. He paused and looked up at the faucet, brows furrowed.

He turned the faucet even more and when that didn't change anything, he peered closely at the shower head. He gave it an experimental tap and blinked as it began to suddenly shake. A black mass lunged at him and Keith flinched back with a yell of shock.

His feet scrambled for purchase on the slippery floor and he fell on his butt with a loud thump and hiss of pain. He opened his eyes and they tracked each thick drop as it fell from the shower head. The black mass turned out to be some sort of sludge, and it started slowly dripping down from the holes of the shower head and hitting the floor with very loud plops. Keith slowly scooted away, getting to his feet without looking away and grabbing his clothes.

He threw on his shirt, the stickiness of sweat forgotten, and slipped into his pants with a good deal of effort. He grabbed a towel from its hook beside the sink and turned the sink faucet, sighing in relief when it spewed out normal water. He scrubbed the now soaked towel on his face and glanced back at where the sludge had fallen in a bubbling puddle. He slung the towel about his shoulders and ran his fingers through his stiff bangs. So he hadn't imagined it.

As the sludge started forming into one mass and inched towards Keith, Keith turned tail and sprinted away from the bathroom.

* * *

Lance, after meticulously applying the various lotions and moisturizers in his possession to his body, sauntered out of the bathroom, steam billowing out behind him. He gave a content sigh and ran his hands through his conditioned hair. He dressed in a clean shirt and jeans, shrugging on his jacket and exiting the room he shared with Beast Boy. The boy in question had actually left after pleading with Lance to hurry up for a good thirty minutes.

He was making his way to the kitchen when he noticed something moving from the corner of his eye. He paused, tensing as the hairs on the back of his neck rose. He whirled around, eyes searching frantically but found nothing there. He squinted, rubbing his hands up and down his arms as goosebumps raced up his skin. He kept his hands in a self hug as he cautiously turned back around slowly and continued walking, more wary this time. He noticed another movement in his peripheral and turned his head slightly to see the outline of a tall man in the shadows. He froze, eyes wide and blood turning ice cold.

"Sh-Sh-Shiro?" Lance asked nervously, shoulders hunched as he slowly turned around again. "Th-th-that you?" The figure said nothing for a while. Lance swallowed and tried again, failing once more to keep his voice from wavering. "C-come on," he chuckled anxiously, "th-this isn't funny, Shiro. Just tell me if it's y-you."

There was still no response. Lance swallowed again and just as he was about to approach it, it flickered out of existence. Lance blinked incredulously at the spot the figure once stood at. He took a tentative step back, eyes wide and locked on the spot, fingers digging into the material of his jacket. He felt the ghost of fingers brush against his back and up his spine, tickling against his neck.

"EEK!" He flinched and spun around in an even more hunched position than before. Nothing was behind him. "It's fine, Lance. There's nothing there, you're just being paranoid," he muttered to himself.

Just as Lance was about to keep walking and forget about it, he felt the same cold fingers brush against his neck. He then screamed and high-tailed it to the lounge.

* * *

Hunk hummed happily to himself as he prepared the next meal.

He was still a bit salty about having to eat the pancakes cold, but at least they didn't go to waste. Besides, Raven had liked them so much he had caught her secretly smuggling some to her room, even though the girl had clearly stated she prefered waffles. He was just happy that they could enjoy his cooking.

For lunch, he was testing out a few new recipes he had found buried deep in the Titans' cupboards and noticed that he was missing a key ingredient—eggs.

Hunk opened the fridge to get a carton, smiling. He reached in, still reading the instructions and grabbing what he hoped were the eggs. He searched blindly for a bit more for another carton as he had learned a day before that there were only a few eggs in that one carton.

Just as he was pulling the eggs out of the fridge, his hand brushed against something cold and slimy. Hunk's fingers twitched, and he frowned in confusion. He put the book down to see what he had grazed, and, to his horror, an arm was dangling limply on top of a container of pickles. The skin was nearly grey, obviously having been severed for a while, flakes and splotches of dried blood littered across the appendage. A severed arm was in the fridge. He felt his stomach give an alarming roll and he had to swallow in shock a few times to keep the bile from rising.

Hunk's eyes widened and his mouth opened but no sound escaped as he threw the eggs back in the fridge and snatched his hand back to his chest, cradling it. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the grotesque sight and he finally lost his battle to his stomach as he noticed the chunks of shattered bone poking out from cut muscle and sheared skin.

He barely managed to make it to the sink before he retched, stringy bits of vomit falling from his lips and splattering into the sink. He fumbled for the faucet and turned on the water, washing the bile down the drain. He swallowed and resisted the urge to throw up again at the taste.

Hunk happened to look down and saw that his hand had blood smeared on it and jumped up and down, flailing his arm away from his body. He noticed that the arm in the fridge was twitching as if to move closer to him, and Hunk hurriedly slammed the fridge door shut and ran out of the kitchen, ignoring the sickening crack from the hand he heard at the action.

* * *

Shiro still felt the remnants of exhaustion tug at him and he sighed, wearily rubbing his face. He should have taken Keith's advice and should have drank two cups of coffee instead of the one. He wasn't ever making that mistake again. He learned from his experiences, thank you very much,.

He was making his way to his room to attempt to sleep when he heard a faint giggle. He narrowed his eyes. The giggle did not sound familiar at all—none of the Paladins giggled in such an eerie way. He stopped, slipping his prosthetic hand out from where it had been tucked in his pocket.

He turned his head in the direction of the giggle and saw nothing. He scanned the area behind him again for a few more seconds before giving in and letting his hand fall back to his side.

He rubbed a hand against his face. "I'm more tired than I thought…"

He continued walking down the hall when suddenly a slightly more high pitched giggle resonated behind him. He whipped around this time, arm flashing a bright violet as it activated. Nothing. He glared at the empty hallway, refusing to power down his arm yet. Just as he was about to give in and blame it on exhaustion again, he heard the same giggle for the third time.

Shiro managed to trace frantic eyes to the source of the sound this time and noticed a robot leg propped up on the wall. Shiro blinked in confusion at the lone limb, feeling the heat from his activated arm ebbing away as it went dormant from the lack of danger. He shrugged it off as something Cyborg had left and continued making his way to Robin's room when he heard the giggle again. He turned his head again to see nothing changed except the position of the robotic limb. Shiro's brows furrowed and, this time, he didn't take his eyes off of the limb.

He probably stared at the stationary leg for a good five minutes with furrowed brows and his arm powering up again. Slowly, the leg began to hop up and down in place, giggling. It hopped closer to him and Shiro started slowly taking a few steps back.

It continued with its mantra of giggles and suddenly the giggles were echoing and resonating within the hallway. Shiro flinched and whipped his head around frantically, searching for the source of the bouncing and unsettling sound.

He heard more laughs and giggles from behind him, stacking over each other and increasing in volume gradually, merging into a mess of noise. Shiro tensed and looked over his shoulder, noticing, to his horror, that _more bouncing legs had appeared._ They seemed to come from every nook and cranny, every corner, and every possible escape point, all with identical giggles. He took a few steps in each direction, not sure which way to run. Noticing a hole in their clustered circle that was closing in on him and not sure of the danger it posed, Shiro booked it to Robin's room, chased by the eerie giggles that just seemed to get louder and louder.

* * *

Allura slipped away from Starfire temporarily for a bit of a breather from the enthusiastic ramblings of the Tamaranian. She decided to get a cool, refreshing glass of water and began to trek over to the kitchen. She was startled when a very familiar lilting voice whispered into her ear tauntingly.

"Did you miss me?"

Allura spun around and her eyes met with Lotor's. Lotor smirked predatorily at her. His eyes were fully yellow, no pupils in sight and it made him look all the more beast like.

"You!" She snarled, backing away. Lotor raised a mocking eyebrow.

"Why so hostile? Did you not enjoy my affections?" His teeth glinted as he purred the next words, "You certainly enjoyed it while we were courting."

"I-" Allura's sharp words of fury were cut short as Lotor stalked toward her, his taller frame looming over her.

"Do you not remember the taste of my lips?" His breath ghosted over her cheeks as he leaned, close enough to kiss if she just slightly moved her head forward.

Disgusted, Allura drew back. "You filthy traitor," she spat.

Lotor brought a hand up to caress her cheek almost lovingly, but his eyes were as cold as the arctic as they bore into her. "So you refuse to acknowledge the truth." He sighed. "You know you still love me, _princess_ ," Lotor drawled, his thumb drawing circles on her cheekbone.

Allura closed her eyes, not wanting to look at him nor acknowledge the biting truth of his words. She felt his hand leave her, and, when she opened her eyes again, Lotor was gone. Allura let out a harsh breath, feeling bitterness fill her. "Why did you have to betray my trust after I fell for you?" She felt the stinging of tears, and she blinked harshly to keep them from spilling. The logical part of her brain told her that whatever the apparition was, it wasn't Lotor. After all, Lotor was dead, and he was never coming back.

* * *

Coran was walking around, twirling his mustache thoughtfully. "How may I learn more about Earth customs?"

As he paced along the hallway for the umpteenth time, his foot suddenly flew up and he fell backwards. "Quiznack!" He winced and peered down at the suddenly very glossy floor.

Shocked and a bit confused, Coran attempted to get up, but no matter what he did, he just couldn't get a grip on anything. He struggled to at least get to his knees but he just succeeded in sliding around the hall. He refused to equate this with his experience with the Slipperies. That most definitely had not happened.

He was brought back to reality when the floor shifted and it reshaped itself into a slope, forcing Coran to slide down to one end of the hallway. He looked behind him and noticed that, instead of the familiar doors he had seen, chomping jaws awaited him, slamming open and shut. It had already torn up several tables that had lined the hallway and Coran was next.

He gasped and scrambled with renewed vigor, fingers digging into the slippery floor and his feet slipping before they could find purchase. Unfortunately, his attempts were fruitless and only caused him to slide to his doom faster.

Clenching his eyes shut and awaiting the worst, Coran let himself slide down with no resistance. He stopped sliding once he hit something and was surprised he felt no pain from the jaws. He peeked one eye open to see that the jaws had returned to normal and so had the floor.

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the mundane doors. He could have sworn that they had been the jaws of some monster but obviously they weren't. He decided to blame it on a possible head injury he sustained when initially falling over. Painstakingly, Coran slowly slid himself in the direction of the lounge, calling out for someone to help him.

"Help! I seem to have been affected by another case of the Slipperies!"

* * *

Cyborg hummed merrily to himself as he wiped down his precious car. He swiped the washcloth across the pristine, blue surface several times just to get it to shine. The robotic man set aside the cloth and took a step back to admire his handiwork. He nodded to himself, satisfied with its shimmering surface, and took a quick swig from the cup of water he had set down on his table bed.

Thanks to the new addition of the Balmera crystal that Hunk had installed, Cyborg didn't need to spend nearly as much time on the bed and generally recharged less. In turn, the previously always clear table was cluttered with various knicks and knacks from incomplete projects.

He moved to the front of the car and lifted the hood, crouching down to repair his baby on the inside now. He worked a few loose screws and fixed a few oil leaks, making sure to wipe away any splotches of the liquid to prevent stains. He had just closed the hood of his car, jumping when he heard what sounded distinctively like shattering glass.

He peered over at where his cup of water had been, only to find that it was now in a puddle on the ground, shards of glass being all that remained of the cup. He blinked at it in confusion. He couldn't have bumped it, could he? No, he was too far away. Then what knocked it over?

Just as that thought popped up in his mind, he felt something hard collide with his face. "Ah! What the-"

He stumbled back in shock and watched as his table suddenly seemed to sprout arms from the plates of metal along the sides, slapping the surface of the table blindly until it felt a wrench resting innocently there. It coiled wire fingers around it and threw it straight at a very flabbergasted Cyborg.

He ducked as it flew over his head and stared after it in surprise. He hadn't even fully turned around again before a screw driver hit him square in the nose. He yelped in pain and astonishment, having to duck again to avoid a handful of screws that sailed towards him.

"What is going on!?" he cried to no one in particular and managed to hop out of the way before a discarded robot arm landed where his chest had previously been. He got no reply and instead got the cursed table wrapping its snake like fingers around various objects and chucking them his way. He really regretted not cleaning the mess around his room now.

He dove behind a pile of junk he had stashed in the corner of the room and pressed his back up against it, flinching when metal hit against metal with each thrown item. He poked his head over to find is it was safe and his eyes widened at seeing the table loaded with some tools and limbs in its hands. He was met with a faceful of wrench and fell back to the ground with another pained yelp.

Cyborg growled in frustration and shifted to straighten when he caught sight of something truly horrifying. The table had an entire chair lifted above its head and was aiming it at none other than his precious baby—his car. He opened his mouth—whether it was to scream or to protest, he didn't know—but all that came out was a strangled gasp. The chair collided with the hood of the car and although it was only a light graze, Cyborg could _feel_ the pain. That definitely peeled some paint.

"Oh, I _know_ that wasn't my car you just hit!" he cried out angrily, jumping out from behind his hiding spot and leaning to the side to avoid the next projectile. His hand lifted from his side and disassembled to reveal his sonic cannon. "We're going to have some issues, table!"

With a war cry, he charged and lunged at the table.

* * *

Starfire sighed and continued to float down the hallway. She _had_ been talking rather passionately about her home world with Allura, but obviously she had tuckered her fellow alien princess out. The others were off doing various things and Starfire didn't have the heart to go seek them out just for some company. She'd just have to suck it up and wander the halls for a while.

She froze when she heard a voice from just around the corner. Pidge tumbled into view seconds later, hair a mess and her bayard skidding away from her grip. "Quiznacking-"

"Friend Pidge?" Starfire asked, landing and taking a few steps forward to approach the girl at the end of the hall.

The Green Paladin took no notice of her and instead flicked her eyes from her lost bayard to something behind her before muttering another curse and leaping to her feet. She lunged for her bayard, squeaking in alarm as something slimy and black coiled around her ankle, yanking her away before she could close her fingers around it.

"Friend Pidge!" Starfire cried out in astonishment and instantly shot into the air and in the girl's direction with the intention to save her from whatever creature had ensnared her friend.

Pidge kicked and struggled in the creature's grasp, eyes wide and fearful as more tentacles whipped out from around the corner, twining around her thrashing limbs and body. Honey eyes caught wide green ones as Starfire had nearly reached the girl. The Paladin opened her mouth to call out to her savior, only for another string of black to wrap around her lips and head, muffling her scream as it dragged her flailing but trapped body back the way they came.

"Friend Pidge!" Starfire zipped around the corner, starbolts aglow on her hands, but there was no one. Her eyes widened and her feet drifted back to the floor, hands falling limply by her sides. Pidge was gone. She was too late. Where she and the beast had gone—Starfire wouldn't know.

Her eyes landed on the dormant and discarded Green Bayard. She bent down and lifted it into her hands as if it were the most fragile substance in the known universe.

She then quickly took flight once more, zooming down the halls with the bayard clutched in her hands, in search of anyone else in the tower. They were all in great danger.

* * *

Raven sat in her room, browsing through her spellbooks. She flipped through them with her magic and stopped at a particular spell she had never seen before. She narrowed her eyes at it suspiciously. She had flipped through this book countless times before and she had never ever seen this particular phrase in there. It was even oddly in Greek rather than the usual Latin.

 _To repel unwanted attention, this spell shall be used. To hide is to cover. The wandering eye shall not see the what does not want to be seen. Beware, however, as the wandering eye can only be fooled for so long._

 ** _ευτυχισμένος μέρα από αστείο_**

Thinking of a certain green shapeshifter lurking around in the Tower, Raven dubiously read the spell out loud. "ευτυχισμένος μέρα από αστείο," she chanted. Unlike the usual spells that caused her power to expand outwards, she felt no change whatsoever occur. She opened her eyes and looked down at herself in order to find… that nothing had happened.

Raven rolled her eyes. Figures. Beast Boy probably did this to annoy her. She frowned. But it was odd. Beast Boy had never outwardly shown enough brain capacity in order to fake something this well.

She sensed something move behind her and turned to find a cloak floating there. It was just an empty cloak that was in front of her, not moving. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Raven stared at the cloak ponderingly.

"Why is there a-" She froze as she realized the reason the cloak was there. "To hide is to cover," she whispered. As if commanded, the cloak threw itself forward and wrapped around Raven, constricting her and limiting her arm movements.

"Azarath-" The cloak, anticipating this, stuck a corner into her mouth, muffling the sound and preventing her from speaking further. Raven glared at it and struggled, trying to wiggle herself out. The cloak tightened itself on her body, but not enough to hurt her or constrict her breathing.

Finally wrenching a hand out from the cloak's embrace, Raven tore the piece of fabric out of her mouth and shouted, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Her magic enveloped the rest of the cloak firmly attached to her and tore it off of her body. Once the magic had left the cloak, it fell limply to the ground and Raven was left, breathing harshly as she stared at the cloak, her appearance ruffled.

She straightened herself and her cloak and, giving a distrustful glower at the other cloak, threw the formerly possessed cloak in the far depths of her closet.

"Did Beast Boy actually summon an evil spirit?"

* * *

Beast Boy snored, his limbs splayed out on the bed like a starfish. After Lance had left the room a good ten minutes earlier, Beast Boy had reclaimed his room and had promptly curled up on his bed. He let out a particularly loud snore and rolled over, hugging his pillow to his chest. His peaceful slumber was disrupted by something hard knocking into his skull. Vein pulsing, Beast Boy sat up, looking around for the object that woke him up. His eyes landed on a calculus textbook lying innocently on the ground two feet away from his bed.

"Wha- Where did a calculus book come from?!" Beast Boy shrieked, backing away very suddenly to lay himself flat against the wall. He looked around suspiciously. "Is this the work of Professor Fred?!" He whipped his head back and forth, trying to locate the evil professor. "I thought I left him behind when I left to train with Doom Patrol!"

Another hard thing whacked him in the head. Beast Boy, rubbing his head, turned to glare at the other thing that hit him. It was a chemistry textbook.

The textbook opened and Beast Boy's worst nightmare appeared. Formulas started flying out of the book, looking as if they were 3D printed and and then enlarged to the size of Beast Boy's head. The chemical formula for baking soda rushed at him. NaHCO 3 nearly took off his head, and Beast Boy yelped and lunged to the side to avoid it, it crashing into the wall instead and leaving a giant crater. Another formula, acetate, shot its subscripts at him, a two and two threes being launched at his person like bullets. Beast Boy screamed, turning into a bat and flying away.

TanX flew out of the math textbook and turned into sine over cosine, both of them teaming up and taking the dividing line between them and wielding it like a bat, swinging it at him. A textbook blocked his view of them, making it impossible to avoid the sinXcosX's swings at him. The textbook's open pages read: SOLVE ME TO REGAIN SIGHT. FIND THE VALUES OF X AND Y.

On the pages lay one single formula: 2 - 3x -10 = 0

Beast Boy collapsed to his knees and screamed, "NO!"

* * *

Robin couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched the entire way to the lounge. He frowned and glared narrowed eyes over his shoulder, finding nothing following him yet again. He grumbled under his breath and continued walking, body very tense.

He walked another good seven paces before whirling around at the faint sound of fluttering feathers to find nothing, once again.

"Who's there?" he called, whipping out his staff. "Show yourself!"

He got no response. He scanned the empty hallway with calculating eyes. The same fluttering sound resonated in the hall and his head snapped up to follow the sound, grip tightening about the staff. His eyes widened and he almost wished he hadn't looked up.

Millions of small robins sat perched within various nooks and crannies along the ceiling, their glowing beady red eyes locked on him down below. They almost seemed like statues, simply sitting there and staring unblinkingly down at the boy. Occasionally, one would ruffle its feathers, hence the fluttering sound he kept hearing.

He tracked eyes all along the hallway roof, noticing how not even a single spot was free from the watching birds.

He didn't know why he was feeling so creeped out all of a sudden, as they were only birds. But he did know one thing; the fact that they all looked exactly the same was very unsettling, not to mention how many there were.

Just then, they all took off, an eerie symphony of beating wings and bodies slamming into each other from the close proximity resonating through the hall.

Robin flinched, but before he could even think to move, all the birds fell to the floor with sickening cracks, fragile bones shattering upon impact. He stared at the bodies littering the halls, chest rising and falling sporadically at the strange sight.

He moved to poke one of the limp bodies with his staff, but before it could connect, all the bodies melted to a black sludge, pooling together on the ground around his feet. Thoroughly confused and terrified, Robin could only watch in horror as the sludge dragged itself across the floor, pooling in one specific spot and condensing into a bubbling, pulsing, writhing, inky mass. Robin's staff fell to the floor with a clatter as the mass rose up to tower above him, spinning and weaving tendrils of slime into some semblance of a beast.

Robin couldn't even scream, a mere breathless squeak exiting him as the creature took shape, a rumbling growl echoing and vibrating through the floor and walls. It had no eyes to speak of, dripping thick gallups of black ooze from its body and wide, black toothed maw. It stood on wicked claws that scraped noisily on the tiled floors, its body boney despite its obvious drip, a long, tail snaking out behind it. It was as if someone had taken a massive wolf and had morphed it into something horrific.

Robin was petrified. He couldn't even bring himself to tear his eyes away at the looming monster or to scream in fear. Just then, it gave a bellowing roar and lunged at him. He braced himself for the worst.

The hot breath of the beast blew over his face as he squeezed his eyes shut, feet rooted in place. The sounds of growls and scraping claws disappeared and when Robin opened his eyes once more, he was greeted with an empty hallway.

He let out a shuddering breath, struggling to calm his racing heart. He scooped up his abandoned staff and sprinted the rest of the way to the lounge.

* * *

Keith and Lance nearly collided with each other. Looking at each other with crazed eyes and panicked movements, they screamed in unison, "THE TOWER IS HAUNTED!"

"There- there- there was a figure!" Lance yelled, gesturing wildly at the hallway he came from.

"The shower was filled with black sludge!" Keith responded.

Again, at the same time, they reached the realization, "The Tower is trying to kill us!"

"First the Castle and then the Tower," Lance bemoaned, tugging at his hair. "What is with us and our homes trying to kill us?!"

Hunk sprinted out the kitchen, huffing. He rushed to Lance and Keith, hiding behind them, away in the direction of the kitchen. "Sev-" He whimpered, giving a scared backwards glance at the kitchen. "Severed arm in the fridge!"

"You too?" Lance asked, eyebrows raising. "Is something happening to all of us?"

"Guys!" Shiro jogged up to them, looking slightly more anxious than his usual calmer self. "I think the Tower-"

"Is haunted?" Lance finished, nodding knowingly. "Yeah, we figured that out."

One by one, most of the Titans filed into the lounge, each sharing their own stories of what had happened to them. Except Raven, who just floated silently and refused to speak to anyone, especially Beast Boy.

Once it had reached Beast Boy's turn to take the stage, he stepped into the middle of their makeshift huddle, the textbook still hovering in front of his face. "Do you see this?!" He yelled, pointing at the book. "This is the nightmare I went through!"

"Wow, a book?" Lance asked dryly. "I saw a creepy figure and you have a book? So much scarier."

"It is scary!" Beast Boy insisted. "It's math! I was attacked with formulas and triangles and other shapes and educational things, and it _hurt_! And this won't go away until I _solve_ it, which I _can't_ do!"

Raven rolled her eyes and walked over, peering at the problem for a few seconds before simply saying the answer. The words in the textbook shifted to a thank you. The book slapped shut and disappeared.

Beast Boy sighed dramatically in relief. "Thanks, Raven! I thought I was going to _die_!"

Lance's eyebrow twitched and he opened his mouth, undeniably about to argue vehemently with Beast Boy about this. "Excuse me but-"

"Friends!" Starfire shouted as she flew into the lounge quickly.

"Star? What's wrong?" Robin asked. "Did something bad happen to you too?"

"Friend Pidge has been taken!" Starfire said in clear distress.

Shiro literally felt the blood drain out of his face and into his feet. His heart rate picked up and he could feel it pound in his ears. A light buzzing filled every nook and cranny of his person as he tried to wrap his mind around Pidge's disappearance.

"What do you mean _taken_!?" Lance asked, stepping forward with his heart pounding in his chest. He could feel his inner 'protective older brother,' as Pidge called it, rearing its head.

Just then, the lights shut off and the doors slammed shut one by one, locking the Paladins and Titans into the lounge. Unfortunately, the sun had begun to set, the dying rays of daylight receding over the horizon and darkening the already dark lounge.

"What's going on?" Hunk asked, his fear beginning to grow as he took note of the flashing computer screen.

"Beast Boy, I swear, if this is the work of your ghost friend-" Raven was cut off by an ominous crackle from the computer screen. Words rapidly flashed over it, the flashes too fast to make any sense of the phrases.

"What ghost friend?" Beast Boy cried, still unable to see anything but math. "I don't _have_ a ghost friend!"

"Then who's doing this?" Keith growled, unable to take the annoying little disturbances anymore.

"Guys, the computer screen has something written on it," Shiro interjected, now having calmed down. "Look."

Sure enough, written on the screen was a single short word: escape.

A small, hand sized box lay on the computer table, three locks chaining it shut. A small black slab sat on top of it, serving as the fourth lock, with a button in the middle. A card read, 'use me to leave.'

"Escape?" Robin shouted, annoyed at the ambiguity and the gall of this thing that had suddenly crashed into their lives solely to wreck havoc.

"I assume this is something like an escape room," Raven pointed out, floating over to the couch. She picked up a folded piece of paper that lay beside the box with a bit of magic. "There are clues."

Lance's eyes locked on the paper floating next to her and he made a sound of realization. "Oh. I get it."

"You do?" Raven asked, turning to him with a surprised raise of her brow.

Lance scoffed and crossed his arms with a grin. "Um, yeah! I wasn't born yesterquintant!"

Raven and the other Titans decided against questioning the Cuban.

"So you just have to find enough clues to escape…" Shiro looked at Raven. "What does that clue say?"

Raven unfolded the piece of paper and read, "Near weaponry of small design, stabbing through the flesh of what was once alive. Shaped like the glowing fruit of this night, a part to your escape shall be found. Where animals once lie...there you shall find I."

"What?" Beast Boy deadpanned. He raised his hands on defense. "Alright dudes and dudettes, I didn't get that. Any ideas?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't." She glanced back down at the paper with furrowed brows, muttering the riddle to herself again.

"Let me see," Keith said, appearing beside her with his hand outstretched. Raven handed him the paper and he read it over again, tilting his head in confusion.

They all gathered around him and peered over his shoulders, each trying to figure out what it meant.

"Oh! Oh! I got it!" Lance crowed triumphantly, hopping from one foot to the next while waving his hand in the air like an impatient student.

"Really? That fast?" Cyborg asked in astonishment, glancing back down at the paper he now held while scratching his head. "I still don't get it."

"It's talking about forest fires!" Lance announced. The others blinked at him.

"Forest fires," Keith prompted with a disbelieving look and arms crossed.

Lance nodded ecstatically. "Yes! Forest fires!" He took the paper from Cyborg. "See? See?" He pointed to first few lines. "See, it says 'weaponry of small design!' Like a small flame? And then the 'glowing vegetable' is the plants on fire!"

Shiro sighed. "I don't think that's right, buddy."

"Oh come on! Do you have anything better?" Lance challenged, placing his hands on his hips and looking pointedly at Keith.

"Give it." The paper was passed back to Keith who glared at it for a few more moments before his eyes widened and his mouth formed a small 'o' shape. "It's mentioning a slaughterhouse," he said, looking up. He pointed to a specific line and read it aloud. "'Stabbing through the flesh of what was once alive' and 'where animals once lie'."

Robin frowned. "But if it were referencing a slaughter house, how would we get to a slaughter house?" he asked in obvious annoyance, his patience already thin from their current predicament.

A silence fell over the group as they all pondered over what it could mean. Cyborg was the one to finally break it was a sudden cry of excitement that startled the others.

"The kitchen!" He snatched the paper and waved it around as if to emphasize his point. "'Near weaponry of small design, stabbing through the flesh of what was once alive'! The silverware! Forks! They stab meat! Which was previously dead animals, justifying the slaughterhouse reference!"

"Nice going, Cy," Beast Boy commended, giving the man a pat on the arm.

"But what about the fruit that the paper said glows?" Starfire asked with a tilted head.

They looked over to the two Alteans who had entered moments before the doors had shut. Allura raised her hands in surrender.

"I am not aware of any glowing fruit from Altea, if that is what you're wondering. Coran?"

Coran shook his head. "I don't recall any either, Princess."

"Star? How about you?" Robin asked. The Tamaranian shook her head sadly.

"I do not know any either."

"Hunk, my man, my best chef, my food expert, Hunk!" Lance said, sliding over and slinging an arm around the Yellow Paladin. "Ever come across any glowing fruit during your kitchen adventures?"

Raven sighed, drawing everyone's attention to her before the teen could answer. "The answer is obvious," she said monotonously, showing them the paper as she took it. "It's talking about a pumpkin."

"A pumpkin?" Beast Boy said incredulously. "Pumpkins are vegetables."

"They're fruit," Keith deadpanned.

"But they don't glow!"

"Jack O' Lanterns do," Raven answered blatantly. "And Halloween is generally celebrated closer to nightfall. So 'glowing fruit of the night' would be a Jack O' Lantern."

"So we're looking for something shaped like a pumpkin or Jack O' Lantern, hidden near the silverware, and in the kitchen?" Shiro asked for clarification, receiving nods in return.

"No way! I am _not_ going back in the kitchen!" Hunk proclaimed stubbornly. "I would rather not see another severed hand, thank you."

"We have to, Hunk," Shiro said gently. "It's the only way we're going to get out."

"Then you guys go search there!" Hunk protested. "I'm staying here. I don't want anything to do what that fridge for a while!"

"Alright, fine," Shiro agreed with a sigh. "Keith, you stay with Hunk here so he's not alone."

"We're only going to the kitchen though," Keith said with a shrug. "It's just on the far end of the lounge."

"I'm not leaving any one of you alone for even a second. I won't take risks," Shiro replied with a stern expression. It melted into a much sadder one as he spoke again. "Not after losing Pidge."

Everyone winced at his words and Keith provided no further objection. The rest of them then made their way to the kitchen and began searching everywhere. At one point, despite Hunk's protests, they checked the fridge. They were both relieved and worried that the hand Hunk had seen was no longer there.

"Boo yah! Found it!" Cyborg called, lifting a small key with a pumpkin charm on its end in the air. He ruffled through the drawer he was searching in and pulled out another slip of paper. "There's another clue here too."

"Let me read it!" Beast Boy said happily, jumping up and snatching the paper to read aloud. "Where the light flickers blue and words flit over, the symbol for escape can be found above the origin of cackles."

"Does it mean the speakers?" Hunk asked enthusiastically, rushing over to them in order to feel useful after sitting out last round.

He felt along the length of the speakers, searching for some object hidden on or around it. His hand brushed against a slight raise that earned him a click. He froze. "Wha-AHHH!"

A set of cuffs snapped over Hunk's wrists, strapping him to the speaker, before the whole thing flipped over, dragging a screaming Yellow Paladin with it.

"Hunk!" Shiro rushed forward, reaching out to grab the boy's ankle. The entire speaker had flipped by the time he got there, disposing Hunk who knows where beyond the wall and sliding back into place. The speaker sat innocently with a blatant lack of a Paladin. "Hunk…"

"Where'd he go!?" Keith demanded, frantically searching around the speaker. "Where the quiznack is he?" He rounded on Shiro, a desperate look in his eyes.

"I...I don't know," Shiro muttered, fear gripping his heart again and keeping his eyes locked on the speaker that had just taken Hunk away from them.

"What's going to happen to the rest of us?" Starfire asked worriedly, approaching along with the rest of the room occupants.

"I don't know what's going on," Robin began, turning to the others, "but if we don't get out soon…" He trailed off, unable to bring his thoughts to light.

"Uh, _hello_!? Horror movie logic? The longer we stay here the more of us will be taken!" Beast Boy finished for his leader. His eyes widened and he gasped. "I bet I'm next!"

"So far, we've lost Pidge and Hunk," Shiro said, keeping his voice miracuously level. "Anyone of us could be tricked and taken next so let's all stick together at all times."

Robin nodded beside him. "I agree with Shiro. We know now that the room is rigged with traps. No one is to split from the group for any reason. "

Everyone gave their own solemn nods. The Titans and Shiro gathered around the new slip of paper, pondering over possible answers.

"Lance?" Keith paused in his trek to the others, confusion written across his face at seeing the Blue Paladin standing aside silently. "Are you okay?"

Lance sighed, shoulders slumping. "I'm worried for Pidge and Hunk," he said honestly. "We don't know where they are or how to get to them! We don't even know if they're hurt. I just… I'm scared for them."

"I am too," Keith admitted quietly. His eyes hardened and a determined look took up his face. "The sooner we get out, the sooner we can go find them."

Lance nodded, feeling a sense of resolve settle in his stomach. "Yeah."

"So the cackles can't be referring to the speakers," Shiro was saying as they joined, "but I'm guessing it still has to do with sound?"

"Perhaps it is talking about the laugh?" Starfire chimed in, floating over the Black Paladin's shoulder to see the paper better.

"I am not so sure," Allura said, a hand on her chin. "'Found above the origin of cackles' is what it says. You cannot find anything above a laugh, from what I know."

"Yeah you can!" Beast Boy argued. "There's noses and eyes and hairs and hats and-"

"A WITCH!" Lance screamed, an epiphany striking him.

"Where?!" Keith asked, taking out his bayard and going in a defensive crouch.

Lance, distracted for a moment, gave Keith a flat stare. "You just happen to have your bayard on you when we haven't faced any dangers for the past like couple weeks?"

"You- Where's the witch?" Keith repeated, his eyes surveying the room cautiously.

Lance stared at him blankly for a moment. "Witch? What wi- OH!" He snapped his fingers. "It's a witch hat! Spooky vibes and its above the cackles of the witch!"

"..." Keith's eyes went wide.

Lance smirked proudly. "Yeah, I know. I'm a genius."

"Did you think of that by yourself?" Keith asked, looking amazed.

Lance scowled. "Yes."

"Here's the witch hat!" Cyborg announced, holding up a witch hat and a folded piece of paper.

"Where was it?" Lance asked, walking over to him.

"On the computer monitor," Cyborg said, pointing. "There's a code on here that I assume is for one of the locks on the box."

"Oooh," Lance muttered, "the blue screen with words was a computer."

"Ooh," Beast Boy echoed.

"Read the next clue," Shiro urged, now having two children to worry about rather than only one.

"I am the one that you cannot see. You cannot find me because you cannot see me."

"Wait wait. What kind of- what?" Lance asked incredulously. "That was the clue?!"

"Let me finish, dude!" Beast Boy cried. "But you can actually see me sometimes. Therefore… find me."

"WHAT KIND OF QUIZNAKING CLUE WAS THAT?!" Lance yelled, snatching the piece of paper and reading it for himself. "WHAT THE QUIZNAK!"

"... Anyone got any ideas?" Cyborg asked, rubbing his temples, feeling a headache beginning to form.

"Is it dust?" Lance asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I mean you can't see dust but you can see it? … Therefore you can… not? ... Can... find it."

"It's worth a try," Keith sighed, too tired and too done to question anything anymore.

"We have some really dusty bookshelves," Robin said, pointing them in the direction of the dark corner filled with old books.

"Okay!" Lance said, heading over to the the corner with a slightly strained smile. "We can do this!"

"Keith, go with Lance," Shiro ordered. "We'll search other places."

So the two went the the shelves and Lance stuck his hand out, feeling around for anything suspicious. He came across a particular book that seemed to have a slight resistance to it when he pushed on it. Therefore, he pulled on it. He paused and looked down, feeling the floor slide out from underneath him to a giant hole beneath his feet.

"... Quiznak." And then gravity took control and he dropped, letting out a yelp. Keith, having faster reflexes than the average human, shot out his hand and grabbed Lance's wrist. Keith growled and dug his sliding boots into the ground, leaning his weight back. "Keith! Keith! Help me!" Lance cried frantically, gripping Keith's wrists that held his and causing the Red Paladin to tip alarmingly forward.

"Lance! Stop squirming! You're dragging me down with you and then we'll _both_ fall!" Keith said through gritted teeth, his desperation coming out as anger at struggling to pull the Cuban up.

"Keeiiittthh!" Lance whined, voice pitched high with fear as he looked down, unable to locate a bottom to the pit. It didn't help that the lounge was dark as well. He kicked and scrambled for purchase, the action yanking on Keith's arm.

Keith felt his heart jolt as his feet slid even closer. "Lance, come on, stop struggling," he called, anxiety starting to slip into his tone and making it crack. "I'm serious, I might actually-"

He could feel his arms about to give in, muscles aching from the strain. However, his body weight was too much for Keith to handle, and Keith also found himself falling through the hole with a scream that echoed Lance's.

The hatch closed above them with a loud slam, causing the others to look at the corner in alarm.

Shiro groaned, his stress levels rapidly rising. "Please don't tell me…"

"They're gone," Robin said, rushing over to the books and feeling around for anything that would activate the door again. However, no matter what he did, the door stayed firmly shut.

"I guess it's just us now," Shiro muttered, his heart pounding at the thought of the other Paladins being alone and getting hurt. They had to hurry and get out, _now_.

"It will be alright, Shiro," Allura said gently, laying a comforting hand on the stressed man's shoulder. "We will get them back."

Shiro took a deep breath, failing to calm his racing heart. He ran a hand through his fringe and gave it a rough ruffle to futilely release his pent up tension. "Then we better hurry. The longer we stay here, the longer they're in danger."

Starfire gave a worried whimper. "Oh! I do hope our friends are not injured!"

"So it wasn't dust," Raven said, drawing their attention back to the task at hand. She plucked the paper off of the table they left it at and skimmed the short text again while the others continued dishing out ideas.

"What can be seen but also not seen?" Cyborg thought aloud. He groaned and rubbed his forehead. "I don't get this! You can't be seen, if you're invisible and you can't be invisible if you can be seen!" he cried out, gesturing wildly with his hands.

"What about a chameleon?" Beast Boy piped up, morphed into said animal and climbing up to Cyborg's shoulder. He shifted his colors to match the robot. "They can't be seen!"

"So, what? We're looking for a chameleon now?" Cyborg asked.

"Perhaps a Yalter?" Coran suggested, looking rather convinced at his speculation.

"I don't think any Yalters would be here, Coran," Allura sighed fondly.

"But a Yalter fits the description perfectly!" He frowned, eyebrows furrowing. "Shady little creatures, they are. Couldn't catch one with how quickly they'd move through the walls!"

Beast Boy jumped down and changed back to human just as Raven turned around and floated back to the group. "It's a ghost," she said, looking up from the paper.

"How did you get that from such a stupid clue like that?" Beast Boy asked in astonishment.

Raven shrugged. "Seen but not seen. Some people claim to see ghosts but most don't. Also the old man gave me the idea with the part about going through walls."

"Alright, that's great," Cyborg said sounding stressed—although not as much as Shiro. "But how are we supposed to find a ghost!?"

"... There's a ghost hanging from the ceiling right there," Raven said dryly, gesturing at the cheap Halloween decoration hanging from the ceiling.

"Ooooh… 'You can see me sometimes!'" Beast Boy yelled triumphantly. He changed into a bird and flew up to the decoration and grabbed the paper in his beak and flew down, changing back as he landed.

"There's another code and a clue." He held the paper out for someone to take.

Shiro sighed, taking the paper and looking over it. "It's not a code. It's instructions."

"Instructions? For what?" Robin asked, taking the paper and reading it. "We have to solve these riddles in order to form a phrase… The answer to the riddles will make the phrase." He glanced over to the box and pointed to the black slab. "We say the phrase into that slab to undo the final lock."

"What about the other three?" Cyborg asked.

Raven, who was previously frowning at the box, lifted it with her magic to peer more closely at the locks. Her eyes widened slightly and she turned to Cyborg. "Let me see the key."

"What? The pumpkin key?" Cyborg asked, handing over the pumpkin key he had been carrying when Raven nodded.

She glanced between the key and the locks for a few moments before manipulating the box to turn slowly. She noticed one of the locks was not a combination or voice lock, but an actual keyhole. She inserted the key into the hole and it slipped in perfectly. After turning it, it gave a small click and the small light in the corner of that side of the box lt up green.

Raven moved the box back down on the table with her magic. "Got one."

"Woah! How'd you figure that out?" Beast Boy asked, running up and staring at the unlocked side in wonder.

Raven frowned with a sigh. "It was obvious. You just don't have enough brain cells to understand."

"Oh." Beast Boy chuckled sheepishly.

"I'm guessing the codes we got earlier correspond with these?" Shiro asked, picking up the box and pointing to the two padlocks. He looked to the others for confirmation.

"It's worth a shot," Robin agreed, gesturing for Beast Boy to hand over the two slips of paper that had codes on them along with the clue.

Shiro glanced at the first keypad and noticed a carving of a triangle in the corner. He turned the box in his hand and realized the other had been engraved with a circle. After pondering for a few moments, he dubiously punched in the four digit code for the witch hat clue in the triangle padlock with bated breath. The light in the corner turned green and Shiro allowed himself to breathe.

"That's two," he muttered, quick to input the other code into the remaining keypad and successfully unlocking the third side. "And that's three." He set the box down and glared at the black slab. Only one lock to go, and it was the hardest of all.

"Now all that's left is the riddle lock," Cyborg said, relief blatant in his voice. "This nightmare is finally almost over!"

"Great. So how do we start?" Shiro asked, desperate to escape and find his missing children. He looked around and the computer flashed, words appearing on it.

The computer read: Three people shall stand on the glowing tiles. The three people will alternate answering the riddle. Answer wrong and a fitful punishment will be delivered.

Sure enough, three tiles attached to the computer's wires were glowing in three select spots of the room.

"So who's gonna go up there?" Beast Boy asked nervously.

"I vote Raven!" Cyborg said quickly. The cloaked girl rolled her eyes at his fearful look and floated up to one of the tiles.

"I'll go," Robin volunteered, stepping up on another tile with a fire of determination igniting in his eyes.

"And who's going to be the third?" Shiro looked around at the others expectantly.

"I shall go as well," Allura said, stepping forward regally. At Coran and Shiro's pointed look, she frowned. "I am just as worried about the others as you are. I wish to assist." She didn't wait for their approval and instead stepped onto the final tile.

Something immediately encased the three, blocking them from the others' sights.

"Wha- Where did they go?" Beast Boy cried, looking terrified of the black box that had dropped from the ceiling and eaten his friends.

"I assume this is an anti cheating measure," Shiro said dryly. "Whoever did all this really thought this through."

Meanwhile, the three inside the box looked behind them in surprise, no longer able to see the occupants who had not been playing. They all stood in a triangle formation with only two tiles of space between each other.

Their attention was drawn to the center most tile as it slid back and a cylindrical alter rose from beneath. A single screen sat in the middle and three other holo screens popped up in front of each player. The screen in the middle began to display text and the three participants leaned forward to read it better.

Allura was the one to read it aloud, and it read, "Each will have a turn to solve a riddle. When your screen is green, you may read your riddle and say the answer aloud. The others are allowed to hear the riddle, but cannot help you solve it. Answer correctly and you may continue playing. Answer incorrectly and receive punishment. Any help from the other players or outside assistance will automatically result in punishment. Your correct answers will be recorded on your screen and can later be used to decipher the lock's message."

The three exchanged worried glances before Raven's screen lit up green and the first riddle was typed across it. She furrowed her brows and read it aloud. "I can travel from there to here by disappearing, and here to there by reappearing. What am I?"

Robin and Allura looked at each other, the weight of what they had just gotten themselves into only now pressing down on them. Raven stood there for a while, reading and rereading the line of text with narrowed eyes.

Finally, she seemed to come up with an answer. "It's the letter 'T'."

The text disappeared and a small ding was heard from her screen. Her shoulders visibly slumped in relief while Robin's screen was next to light up.

"What letter is always discovered in the center of a maze?" He frowned after he read it, his brain blanking and coming up with no answers whatsoever. He read the riddle again and sighed. He had no idea, but he wasn't going to simply give up.

He glared at the words, his hands turning to fists on the altar. He brought up a mental map of a maze, finding no clues to what he needed. He stared at his screen for a good five minutes before he suddenly realized that a synonym to the word maze was labyrinth. He frowned and mentally counted the letters. Robin's eyes widened. "R!" he cried out and slammed his hands down on the altar, causing Allura to flinch at the sudden noise. His screen dinged and he resisted the urge to pump his fist in victory.

Allura was next. She sucked in a harsh breath and gripped the altar nervously, her riddle appearing on the screen. "What do the mummies, zombies, vampires, goblins and witches all have in common?"

Raven raised her eyebrow at the riddle but chose not to comment. Allura worried her lip, eyes scanning the words over and over again. She refused to admit that she didn't know what any of the stated creatures were. She slightly regretting stepping up now.

Allura shook her head to rid herself of those thoughts and focused again on the waiting riddle. She pondered over it for another few minutes before she gave out a defeated sigh. The other two in the box tensed at the sound, dreading what she was about to say.

She looked up and met their eyes sadly. "I apologize. I am afraid I do not know." She gasped as her previously green screen switched to a deep red and a buzzer sounded. She gave an alarmed squeak as the tile disappeared from under her feet, gravity dragging her screaming body down below and out of sight. The last thing she saw before she disappeared was the shocked faces of Robin and Raven.

The tile slid back in place and Raven and Robin were left to stare at the spot the alien had once stood. They looked up as a door sized section of the black box behind the empty tile slid open to allow entrance.

"What happened? Where's Allura?" Shiro asked, stepping forward now that he could see into the box and could see the lack of the alien princess.

Robin shook his head solemnly. "She couldn't answer. So she fell through the floor."

"Oh, I hope she's alright. How many more of us will be taken before we can escape?" Starfire asked desperately, floating down to the floor.

"Hopefully no one else," Shiro sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. His worry was only increasing with every member of his team that went missing. If he had thought he was stressed when only Pidge had disappeared, then he was obviously very mistaken. He turned to the others to tell them he was going, but was shocked to find that Coran had already entered the box. "Coran! What are you doing?"

Coran looked over his shoulder. "I shall take the Princess's place for now." The door slid shut behind him before Shiro could say more.

The instructions reappeared on the middle screen for Coran and after he had been properly filled in, the same riddle Allura had appeared on Raven's screen. She scanned the five words in the riddle and thoroughly analyzed each one. She hummed thoughtfully to herself and began counting each letter count. She shook her head. So they didn't have the same amount of letters.

She furrowed her brows as she noticed a strange similarity between all the words. She scanned the riddle again to confirm her theory and then straightened. "Is it the letter 'I'?" The screen dinged.

Robin's screen lit up with the next riddle. "The man who built it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who got it doesn't know it. What am I?" He furrowed his brows and reread the riddle, muttering it under his breath.

He gave his hair a light ruffle and blinked at his screen, his brain running jumbled thoughts through his head. "Um… a house?" he asked hesitantly, already guessing that it was probably wrong. Unsurprisingly, the screen lit up red and the tile dropped out from under Robin's face. Despite expecting it, he gave a surprised yelp as gravity took effect.

"Robin!" Raven extended her hand and it immediately was engulfed in her dark magic with the intent to catch her leader. Her spell was interrupted by a shock from her screen and she gasped and pulled her hand unwillingly back to her, the magic having been halted long enough for the tile to close over the hole Robin fell through.

The riddle moved to Coran's screen and he peered at it curiously, struggling not to feel pressured by Raven's suddenly intense gaze. She wasn't meaning to pressure him, but her anger had been rising steadily with each Paladin that had disappeared, increasing a lot faster by losing one of her own.

"A Glorberstick?" Coran asked after a pensive moment. Raven blinked in astonishment, not even finding it in her to seem shocked or desperate as the tile dropped him out of the enclosed room.

The door slid open again and she could see the exact moment that Shiro's face had fallen, his eyes swimming with distress and worry. She also took notice of how Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire had gasped at the lack of their leader.

"They didn't make it?" Shiro asked, his voice weak.

Raven shook her head sadly, realizing just now that Shiro was the only one left from their new Voltron friends. Shiro sighed, stepping forward and entering the box, positioning himself at the tile Robin had once stood at. Raven gave him a sympathetic pat at seeing his sullen look.

"Well, good luck, dude," Beast Boy said, recovering first and pushing Cyborg forward.

"Wha- Why me!?"

"Well, we saw how sending aliens in there went," Beast Boy reasoned. "And besides, even I know I couldn't solve those! The riddles took out Robin, for crying out loud!"

Cyborg groaned but entered the box anyway, leaving Beast Boy and Starfire to wait outside as the door slid shut. The instructions filled the two new players in and the previous riddle appeared on Raven's screen as it was her turn.

Having already heard the riddle in the past, she was quick to respond. "It's a coffin."

Shiro blinked at his screen tiredly when it lit up with the next riddle. "I have keys but no locks. I have space but no rooms, I allow you to enter but you are never able to leave. What am I?"

He let out a deep breath and ran a hand through his fringe, his brain muddy with concern for his missing members and not allowing him to focus. He rested his cheek in his prosthetic and skimmed the riddle again. He probably had continued to stare at the riddle for ten minutes before something clicked in the back of his tired mind. He had done this riddle once with Keith back at the Garrison. He pushed the boy out of his thoughts as along with him came more worries for his and the others' safety. He rubbed his hands down his face. "It's a keyboard, right?" He gave out a sigh of relief as his screen dinged.

Cyborg gave him his own sympathetic pat before his gaze was drawn to the riddle on his screen. "What letter is the center of joy and the principal mover of sorrow?" He frowned and leaned back, holding his chin in thought. He squinted at the screen and sat there for a few moments before going for it. "The letter 'O'?" The screen dinged. "Oh, boo yah!"

"The beginning of eternity. The end of time and space. The beginning of every end. And the end of every place," Raven read, raising her eyebrows at the prophetic tone of the text. It sounded vaguely familiar and she proceeded to flip through all of her books in her mind. After a few minutes of standing there and staring at the riddle blankly, she had her answer. "The letter 'E'."

Shiro read his next. "I can be green, pink, red or even yellow, someone used me as a poison. What am I?" He sighed and tried to focus on the text in front of him, but he found his brain wandering to his children and the two Alteans. He hadn't even realized he had muttered out a random answer until he was brought back to reality by the red screen and loud buzzer. He didn't have another moment to ponder before the tile fell out under him and he fell into the dark with a startled cry.

Cyborg stared at where the Black Paladin had been, gulping nervously when the riddle appeared on his own screen. He read it a few times and was suddenly reminded of the Evil Queen. "Oh! Oh! An apple!" The screen dinged.

Suddenly, all the holo screens closed and the screen in the middle filled with text again. Raven leaned forward and read, "Congratulations, you have solved all the riddles. Your answers will be displayed on the main computer screen. Each answer will have a number beside it, indicating how many of that letter is in the final phrase. You are now free to regroup with the nonplayers."

Just as she finished reading, the altar sank back into the ground and the black box lifted back into the ceiling, the previously glowing tiles fading to blend in with the rest of the floor. Raven and Cyborg made their way back over to Starfire and Beast Boy.

"Did Friend Shiro not make it?" Starfire asked in concern, looking over the two's shoulders as if she'd be able to catch sight of the man with his shock of white hair.

Cyborg shook his head with a sigh. "I think he was too stressed to think properly. He looked miserable in there."

"I'd be too if everyone close to me was suddenly taken by an unknown entity," Raven said honestly.

"So… it's just us now?" Beast Boy asked dubiously.

"Seems like it," Raven answered.

They all looked over to the computer screen as a list of the answers appeared, a number beside each one in parenthesis.

"We have the pieces of the code now," Cyborg said, walking forward to the box with his eyes trained on the screen. "Now we just have to figure it out."

Raven extended her hand to the kitchen and a piece of blank paper and pen flew out, carried over by her magic. "Obviously, the letter answers are the needed letters," she said, scribbling down those specific letters, making sure to repeat them the number of times indicated. "But we're still not sure of the others."

"Perhaps the first letter of each answer could be the answer?" Starfire suggested, flying up the screen and staring at the answers at a closer distance.

Cyborg and Beast Boy looked at Raven, expecting her to have the correct answer as she had done the best at solving everything throughout the night. She shrugged. "We can try." She wrote down the first letter of each remaining response and stared at the jumbled letters with a look of concentration.

She heard a buzz beside her ear and looked over in confusion to see a green hummingbird flying beside her head and looking at the paper. She rolled her eyes. "You could have just asked." She held the paper out and Beast Boy changed back with a sheepish look, accepting it and looking at the letters for himself.

Starfire and Cyborg gathered around him and Raven, looking down at the letters. Suddenly, Cyborg made a surprised noise and snatched the paper from the short boy, taking the pen from Raven with a little less force. He pressed the paper down on the table and rearranged the letters below the list Raven had created.

"Aha! Got it!" he crowed triumphantly, turning back to them and showing the paper. "Trick or Treat! See? Three 'T's, two 'R's, one 'I', one 'C', one 'K', one 'O', one 'E', and one 'A'!" He pointed to the number beside each letter in turn as he talked.

Starfire beamed and clapped excitedly. "Oh! I see!"

"Woah… that's pretty good, dude," Beast Boy chimed in with a grin of his own.

"Let's just hurry up and get out of here," Raven said, bringing them back to reality despite her own smile. She floated over to the box and peered curiously at the button on the slab. Her only guess was that it was there to record her voice. She pressed it down with her finger and leaned closer so that it picked up her words better. "Trick or Treat."

The final light on the box turned green and the four occupants gave a triumphant sound, smiling as the box clicked in various places and began to slide apart, pieces shifting and folding over each other to open the top of it. Beast Boy reached inside and pulled out a black keycard with a strip of green on it, a drawing of an evil looking pumpkin scrawled on the front in orange.

He turned to the others with a determined look on his face. "Let's go get our leader and friends back."

They all ran over to the door that led out of the lounge, swiping the card through the keycard slider and stepping back as the doors finally opened, the lights of the hall flickering on. They gasped at the sight before them.

Screams muffled due to gags and movement restricted due to thick ropes around their ankles, wrists, and torsos, they saw none other than everyone who had been taken. Shiro and Robin had been tied back to back—Allura and Coran wrapped up with them too—and were sitting on the ground on the left side of the hallway. On the right were the Paladins, tied up in similar ropes and letting out muffled yells when they caught sight of the four Titans.

"What happened here?" Raven asked, already moving to approach the captive teens and adults.

Just then, the lights in the hall shut off, stopping the approaching Titans and shrouding the hall in darkness. Various noises of distress escaped muddily through the gags. Starfire lit one of her hands with her starbolt and held it up, coating the surrounding area with a green glow.

"Alright, I am sick of whoever is playing these stupid games on us!" Cyborg cried out. "Just show yourself already!"

The last few lights of the hallway flickered on, showing a shadowing silhouette of a figure standing at the end of the hall. Lance's eyes widened at the sight and he began yelling through his gag, kicking his bound legs as he tried to put distance between himself and the approaching figure. The others in his group seemed to get the message as they too started squirming to move their collective bodies.

The figure finally made it to where Starfire's green glow illuminated and stepped into the light. A collective gasp rang around the room despite most of it being subdued by the gags.

"PIDGE!?" Beast Boy cried out, being the first to recover.

"It was _you_ the whole time?" Raven asked in astonishment, connecting the pieces.

Pidge smirked, raising a remote and pressing a button that turned the lights in the hallway back on along with the ones in the lounge. "Yup. It was me the whole time."

"What-how-why… _Pidge_!?" Cyborg sputtered, jaw dropping.

"But… I saw you get taken by that beast, Friend Pidge!" Starfire pressed, also unable to believe it and letting her hands fall back to her sides as they didn't need the light anymore.

"Psh!" Pidge waved a dismissive hand. "Holograms."

"But… the bayard of green was real!" she continued. "I touched it!"

Pidge grinned smugly. "The creature and the Pidge _you_ saw were holograms. I slipped the bayard out into the open when the hologram fell," she explained.

Starfire opened and closed her mouth like a gaping fish, stuck in shock. Pidge looked down when she could no longer ignore the muffled and angry screams of Lance and Keith, Hunk only seeming to be staring up at her in surprise.

"I don't know, it's a nice look for you guys," Pidge commented with a snicker. Lance and Keith gave her the harshest glare she had ever seen them do and she chuckled. "Alright, fine." She bent down and untied their gags and ropes, moving on to the leaders of the two groups and doing the same.

"Pidge!? THAT WAS YOU!?" Lance screamed, shooting to his feet and pointing an accusing finger in her direction. "ALL OF THAT WAS _YOU_!?"

Pidge raised an eyebrow. "Were you listening? Yes, it was."

"What was all that!?" Keith demanded, stepping forward and fuming. "Why would you do any of that!?"

"Yeah!" Lance chimed in, backing the Red Paladin up.

"Hey, you guys wanted a scary Halloween," Pidge defended with her hands raised. "I just did what you guys wanted."

"But, _how_ did you do it?" Robin asked, his anger having faded away over the course of Lance and Keith's screaming.

Pidge grinned, putting her hands behind her back. "Oh, I did many different things."

"What about my spell?" Raven asked, brows furrowed. "How were you able to make a spell?"

Pidge shrugged. "I didn't. I couldn't use Latin because you actually _know_ Latin," she muttered bitterly, "so I just settled with translating Happy Halloween into Greek." At the silence she got in response and the still confused look of Raven she continued. "The cloak floated because I cloaked some mini drones and sent them to hook onto it and move it around."

"I saw a severed hand though," Hunk said, shuddering at the memory.

"You saw a robotic hand that I cloaked to look like a severed hand," Pidge explained. She turned to Shiro. "Those legs were some of the legs that I got from Lotor that I rigged up with little audio boxes."

"Number Five," Coran said, stepping forward. "How did you recreate my Slipperies, I must know!"

Beast Boy wrinkled his nose in confusion and disgust. "Slipperies?"

"I poured oil and waxed the floors and then made holographic tables and a fake image of a mouth at the hall. If you had touched the tables, you would have noticed that they were fake."

"And the sludge?" Keith growled, eyes still narrowed.

"A little concoction I made and stuck into the shower head. I had to rewire some things to make sure it activated when someone entered so that was hassle but yeah."

"What about my table!?" Cyborg piped up. "It was throwing stuff at me!"

"That was a fake that I made," Pidge continued to explain nonchalantly. "Everyone else's pranks were holograms. Except for the escape room...that took a whole lot of hacking and a whole lot of building and a whole lot of setting up," she said with a dramatic sigh. She grinned a second later. "But it was totally worth it!"

"Pidge?" Shiro asked dubiously.

"Hmm?"

"How did you do all of this in the span of a few hours?"

"Honestly, I have no idea how I pulled it off," she said truthfully. "I was running around a lot."

"Wait…" Cyborg said suddenly, an epiphany hitting him. "YOU HURT MY CAR!"

Pidge winced. "Oops. Sorry about that."

Cyborg looked like he was about to strangle the girl before he took a deep breath and exhaled with flared nostrils. "It's fine, it was only a scratch," he grumbled.

"I'll help you fix it up, don't worry," she assured with a sheepish look.

"I'm confused about one more thing," Robin said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You had access to so many hidden passageways and movable tiles that not even Cyborg knew about. He's the one who built this entire tower."

Pidge grinned. "I just kind of stumbled across them and stuff."

"Stumbled across them, she says," Lance grumbled, his arms having been crossed and his head having been pointed away as he fumed in silence.

Pidge smirked and slid up next to him. "Aw, you aren't _that_ angry are you?" she said in a teasing voice.

He glared at her in response and refused to answer. He actually thought he was about to die at almost all times of the night. He would rather not feel like he was actually _inside_ a horror movie, thank you. Pidge poked his arm several times until he finally gave in and looked down at her with a sigh.

"I was terrified, Pidge," he admitted, fixing her with an almost haunted expression.

Pidge shrugged. "Well, yeah, that was kind of the poin-"

"No, Pidge," he interrupted, turning to her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "I was terrified for _you_. I was terrified for Hunk when he disappeared. I didn't know what happened to you guys… I thought…"

Pidge winced as she felt him shiver where she stood. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his back as best as she could. "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you _that_ badly."

Lance sighed and wrapped his arms around her as well. "It's fine…"

"We were _all_ scared for you," Shiro said as the two separated. He bit his lip. "I had no idea what happened to any of you and I hated that I couldn't do anything but play by the rules of the game to get you guys back."

Pidge looked away guiltily. She didn't notice how Shiro suddenly gave her a small smile before shocking her by ruffling her hair. "I'm just glad that it was all one big prank."

Sensing how the mood was lifting and how both Keith and Lance seemed to have calmed down a great deal, Pidge allowed for a genuine smile to take up her features. The smile was quick to turn into a grin. "It was a pretty good prank though, wasn't it?"

Lance smirked, acting as if he were pondering. "Yeah… it was pretty good."

"Are you kidding me!?" Beast Boy cried. "This was _the best_ Halloween ever! I was so scared and everything was so real and I actually felt truly terrified! It was _amazing_! You totally need to do this again."

Pidge looked at him smugly. "So you admit that I won?"

"It was never a contest!" Beast Boy retorted. "But yes, I'll give you this once."

"Good. Because I'm going to go watch the footage now and laugh my face off," she said, turning to walk away.

"What?" Keith and Lance both asked.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Pidge said in mock surprise, turning to them and pulling out a CD from her pocket. "I recorded the whole thing." Silence. "Also don't even try to break it or steal it, I have backups." More silence.

"PIDGE! GIVE IT!" Lance yelled, rushing at the cackling girl as she shot off down the hallway.

"HEY! WAIT!" Keith called, following close behind. "WAIT FOR ME!"

Shiro sighed fondly, watching in amusement as Lance tackled the Green Paladin at the end of the hall and Keith tripped over the two bodies. He fell with a startled squawk and Lance paused in his tug of war with the CD against Pidge, the two of them stopping to laugh at the Red Paladin.

Keith seemed to flush a color startlingly close to his lion before a smile took up his face and he let out a chuckle of his own.

"You guys make every day here a little overly interesting," Robin said, appearing beside the other leader with a smile.

Shiro chuckled. "Yeah. We're a strange bunch." He watched as Keith body slammed the other two and all that was left was a mess of limbs that scrambled for the CD. "Well, all I can say is Happy Halloween."


	7. Chapter 7: Showtime

"Alright!" Cyborg cheered, three plastic disk cases in his human hand. "Movie night!"

"Whoo!" Beast Boy hopped onto the couch beside his friend where all of the other Titans were already lounging on the sofa.

The Paladins walked out from the training room after a while of testing the Gladiator and Pidge and Hunk making accommodations to it depending on the other three's feedback. They walked into the lounge to see all the Titans gathered around the giant TV excitedly.

"What's going on?" Lance asked with a pained groan, collapsing on the floor in front of the couch. After a few rounds with the Gladiator, his limbs had turned to mush and he could barely move without something aching.

"It's movie night, dude!" Beast Boy said happily.

"I have the popcorn," Robin announced, walking out of the kitchen with a giant bowl of popcorn in his hands.

"Here are the choices!" Cyborg said proudly, displaying the movie covers.

"What is this 'movie night'?" Allura asked, peering at the movies in confusion.

"It is a wondrous moving image that tells a tale!" Starfire explained to her fellow alien Princess.

"I see."

"It's a show," Beast Boy added, looking extremely concentrated at his task of picking out which movie to watch.

"Ah, the Paladins have been in a show!" Coran said, pulling at his mustache. Maybe these earth customs were not as abnormal after all.

The Paladins, minus Keith, not wanting to be reminded of that incident, shouted in unison, "NO!"

"Really?" Cyborg asked, watching their extreme reactions with amusement. "Can we see it?"

"Oh yes! I actually found it in my pockets yesterday! If we download it to your technology, I am sure we can watch it!"

"CORAN!" Lance shrieked in horror, wanting to do something but unable to move from his spot on the floor. "STOP!"

"It's embarrassing!" Hunk said with a dark flush. The Titans grew more interested at Hunk's words. Embarrassing always meant entertaining. Especially if it wasn't at your own expense.

"Yeah, we should watch that!" Beast Boy said, tossing away the other movies.

"No!" Lance sobbed, grabbing onto Coran's legs as he walked by to get to the computer. "Coran, have mercy!"

"Nonsense, Number Three. You all did fabulously." Coran stuck the alien hard drive into the computer and what was displayed on the monitor was Coran and the Paladins, including Allura, gathered in a room.

 _"Everyone, check your wrist devices. I've uploaded a script onto them," Coran was dictating. The Paladins and Allura checked their wrists._

 _"What is this?" Hunk asked, frowning at what appeared on the small screens that popped up._

 _"Yeah, there's barely anybody out there," Lance complained, referring to the very small number of injured patients sitting there._

 _"I scaled down the show so we can do it indoors for the patients," Coran said. "You know, to lift their spirits!" Even with Coran's good intentions, there were still many flawed points._

 _"... This isn't even factually accurate," Pidge said dryly, looking at her part._

 _Coran gave Pidge a flat look. "This is the_ Legend _of Voltron, not the documentary of Voltron." Something seemed to occur to him and he turned to Allura with a bit of hesitance. "Speaking of which, Allura, you'll be playing Keith."_

 _Allura made a disgusted expression. "Huh?!"_

Keith grumbled at the wave of laughter that roared from the Paladins and Titans.

"Sorry, Keith," Allura said with a chuckle.

 _"The word hasn't spread of Keith being on leave from Voltron, and I didn't want to confuse anyone," Coran said, trying to placate the annoyed Princess. "Besides, playing Keith is easy! Just act really moody," Coran said cheerfully to Allura. Allura glowered and crossed her arms with a growl. Coran nodded approvingly. "See? You've done it!"_

"Hey!" Keith cried, offended at the description Coran kindly provided Allura with. Pidge was leaning on him, trying to stay upright with her cackling. Keith scowled at her. Pidge laughed harder at his scowl proving Coran's words right.

Shiro pat his back comfortingly. "It's okay, Keith. Just accept it. Acceptance is the first step of getting out of a phase."

"It's not a- I'm not emo!"

 _"Everyone in positions! Just follow the script!" Coran said, striding out of the room with Allura's glare following him._

 _"Ladies and gentle-aliens," Coran declared at their small crowd of hospital patients, "bear witness as the Paladins of Voltron attack Zarkon's base to save the helpless Princess Allura!" Coran batted his eyelashes with his hands clasped next to his head as if imitating the Princess._

"Really, Coran?" Allura sighed, looking at Coran's impression disdainfully.

Coran smiled sheepishly.

 _"Shiro!" Coran said with a grand gesture, "You're on!"_

 _The spotlight moved from Coran to a surprised and unsuspecting Shiro, who squinted and raised his arm to protect his eyes from the harsh light. Shiro looked at Coran helplessly who gave him an encouraging gesture behind the stage. Shiro reluctantly looked down at his script._

 _"Uh… I will save the Princess, even if it means taking on the Galra Empire with my bare... hand," Shiro read monotonously, putting no effort into any sort of act at all._

 _Hunk walked up next to him, staring very intently at his own script. In the same emotionless, reading-out-loud tone, he said, "And you won't have to do it alone because you'll have me… Hunk."_

 _Pidge, slightly frowning, walked to the other side of Shiro and read, "And me. Pidge."_

 _Lance was the only one who put any effort into acting and hopped in front of them all proudly, hands on his hips and a wide smile plastered on his face. "And me! Lance!" He brought his script up to check his next lines and said slowly, "Holds bayard dashingl- Oh!" He brought out his bayard with a smirk and held it up._

 _Allura, unhappily slouching in shame, added, "And me… Keith."_

 _Shiro looked down at his wrist, and seeing it was his turn to speak said robotically, "Thank you, team, for always being by my side... through thick or thin." He clicked his device to go to the next page. "Now come along. Together we'll-"_

 _"Beat Zarkon!" All the Paladins chorused unevenly, finishing at different times. Lance was off to the right posing while kneeling and pointing his bayard with a giant smug grin across his face. The other four stood there awkwardly._

 _Coran slid in front of them, wearing a wig of Allura's hair, on his knees and hands clasped under his chins. In a high-pitched voice, he sang, "My heroes!"_

 _The lights turned back on and crickets were chirping as the screen showed the empty seats of the audience._

"Great acting, you guys," Keith said sarcastically, hand on an embarrassed Pidge's head buried in his thigh.

After falling there laughing, she didn't get up and resolved to use Keith as a pillow. In turn, Lance was laying on her stomach and Hunk was on Lance's legs with Shiro's legs on all three of them.

"Shut up, Keith," Pidge's muffled voice whined, "you weren't even there to do it with us!"

"Hey!" Lance complained at the insult. "I think I did great!"

"That was the worst acting I have ever seen, dude," Beast Boy said in amazement. "No wonder everyone left."

 _"Well that bombed," Hunk stated, staring at the empty seats. He walked off, thoroughly embarrassed._

 _"Yeah, speaking of bombs, we need to get back to doing airshows with explosions and lasers and_ bombs _!" Lance said to Coran, spreading his arms to mimic an explosion. All the Paladins walked off the stage and Coran sighed._

 _He took off the wig dejectedly. "I was hoping to expand our horizons." He sighed again sadly and got up._

"Aw, Coran," Hunk said guiltily. "We're sorry."

"Yeah, Coran. We should have tried harder," Shiro said, putting a hand on Coran's shoulder.

"It's alright, Paladins." Coran waved off their apologies. "We got through to them in the end."

"Because of a parasite," Pidge mumbled.

 _An alien approached Coran after all of the Paladins left. He looked incredibly sketchy with a devious smirk spread wide across his face and fingertips pressed together in the classic villain pose. "Hey there, friend," he called, "you look like you could use a bit of help."_

 _"I know you!" Coran's eyes widened in recognition. "You ran the Unilu Swap Shop in the mall!"_

 _Ignoring his words, the alien wheeled closer. "I saw that space wreck of a show you put on," he said, smiling slyly._

 _Coran looked down sadly. "I don't know what I was thinking."_

 _"Then STOP THINKING and be conscious-neezy!" He pulled out a secret compartment in his wheelchair. "Conscious-neezy mind enhancers!" He held up a small pill. "Pop one of these babies under your pillow at night, and when you wake up in the morning, your brain will be filled with brilliant thoughts and ideas." Coran reached for it, mesmerized. "They seep while you sleep! The price is 12,000 GAC." Coran stopped reaching for it and frowned in disappointment._

"Uh, Coran," Hunk said hesitantly. "Please tell me you didn't get that."

"I had no other ideas that would have worked," Coran answered, looking around the room innocently.

"No wonder all your ideas were insane," Pidge muttered.

 _"Would you take a used left shoe?" Coran bartered, crossing his arms._

 _Without missing a beat, the alien answered, "I'll accept the Yellow Voltron Bayard."_

Hunk gripped his bayard to him protectively.

 _Deadpanning, Coran held up a finger. "How about fifteen nose hairs?"_

"Ew," Beast Boy said in disgust. "Dude."

 _"I'll take your left arm plated in luxite."_

 _"A firm handshake and a pat on the back, then?" Coran offered, sticking out his hand._

 _"I get to ride on your shoulders for one deca-phoeb," the alien snapped angrily._

 _Coran held up a finger and shouted, "Well, how about I give you 600 GAC and don't tell the staff you're running an unlicensed swap shop in an intergalactic hospital?!"_

"Coran," Allura said, shaking her head. "I can't believe you bought it."

"I can't believe he didn't get it for free," Pidge muttered.

"Well," Coran said, rubbing the back of his head, "I was desperate to put on a show. And it wouldn't be right to not pay for a product as successful as that, Number Five."

 _"DEAL!" The alien yelled back, panicked. He quickly gave Coran the pill._

 _"Coran, you coming?" Pidge asked, stepping back through the door._

 _Coran gave her the widest, fakest smile ever that screamed guilt. He made a series of odd noises and walked to Pidge, the alien wheeling the opposite way._

"Pidge," Lance said disbelievingly, "you didn't suspect anything?!"

"Well, it's Coran!" Pidge defended.

"Yeah and Coran is a horrible liar! That was the guiltiest face ever!" Lance snorted. Even he could see through that. "You didn't even think anything was wrong?"

"Shut up." Ears burning red, she turned her face into Keith's thigh again, only to hit him when he kept vibrating with laughter.

"Would you like to skip to the shows?" A message popped up onto the screen. "The rest is merely other events that are not as entertaining."

"Is that a virus?" Cyborg yelped. "Or is this one of your alien contraptions?"

Pidge peeked an eye out to see all the commotion. "It's part of the hard drive," she said shortly, "it's been programmed in."

"Oh. So it's just an alien doohickey?" Beast Boy wiped imaginary sweat off of his forehead and let out a breath of relief.

"Yeah, let's just skip," Lance said, throwing a pillow at the computer. It hit its mark and the computer started skipping a bunch of scenes. "We don't need to see the other bits. Just me and my great acting!"

"Great," Pidge snorted.

"How'd you know what to hit, Lance?" Hunk asked in awe, looking at an equally shocked Lance.

"Psh, skill."

The next scene showed Coran with an odd expression on his face.

 _"Rule number one, never walk onto stage, all right? You gotta leap onto stage." Coran, in a weird Texan-like accent, began rolling his hands in an old fashioned dance move. "Roll onto stage!" He dramatically twirled. "I'm talking EXPLODE ONTO STAGE!" Coran spread his arms enthusiastically._

 _While the rest of the Paladins stared at him apprehensively, Lance pointed his fingers at him with an excited smile. "Yeah!"_

 _Showtime:_

 _"Oh no! A laser-eyed monster! We need a Paladin of Voltron!" Coran called from behind the curtain as a dummy with a mask was pulled across stage by a rope._

 _Rock music played dramatically and Shiro and Allura came on the stage, flipping dramatically and doing a bunch of back handsprings until they landed in a dramatic pose. Pidge slowly descended from the sky with her jetpack and landed in between them and also struck a pose. Hunk rolled to them and Lance jumped from behind and stood up dramatically in the middle of all of them with his hands out._

 _"Your time is up, monster!" He said heroically._

"Pff…" Keith snickered. "What great poses."

"Shut up, Keith," Lance grumbled, "the aliens loved it."

 _"Rule number two! Don't just say that line… you gotta shout that line!" Coran said, still in his weird accent. "REMEMBER! LOUDER IS BETTER!"_

 _Showtime:_

 _Lance, remembering the second rule, at the top of his lungs, screamed, "KEITH, I NEED YOUR HELP!"_

 _Allura, following his example, screamed back, "I'M ON IT!"_

 _Hunk yelled, "LOOK OUT, HE'S FIRING HIS LASERS!"_

"Did that really help sell the act?" Pidge asked wryly to Lance.

"I don't know," Lance shrugged. "Coran told us to."

"Coran told us to do a lot of sketchy things. And it wasn't even Coran. It was a quiznaking brain worm," Pidge said tiredly.

"This is why you should never trust strangers, Coran," Shiro said sternly to the orange-haired Altean.

 _"And finally," Coran stated, striking a pose, "strike a pose after every movement! Everyone loves a pose!"_

 _Showtime:_

 _The Paladins attacked the dummy bad guy (with Lance and Hunk firing goo balls instead of actual shots) and struck a similar pose to the beginning of their act._

 _"Spread the word!" Coran spoke, "The Voltron Coalition needs you!"_

 _"I would like to join!" An alien from the crowd called. The crowd applauded them and cheered._

"Wow, that was great, you guys," Keith remarked, twitching slightly to stop from busting down laughing.

"Okay, well, I don't see you coming up with anything better," Lance retorted. "They loved us!"

The computer skipped the next following scenes until they arrived to their next show.

 _"HELLO BII-BOHS AND BOH-BIIS! TONIGHT, THE PALADINS OF VOLTRON TAKE ON ZARKON ON ICE!" Coran's voice boomed into his microphone and a giant ice rink was shown._

"Are you guys going to figure skate?" Keith asked in disbelief. He didn't even know why he was surprised at this point anymore.

"Sadly, yes," Shiro said with a sigh.

"It was horrible!" Hunk whimpered, hiding his head in a pillow.

 _A very tall skinny noodle person walked up to the podium, squeaking as he moved. "Bi-boh, bi-bohs! Boh-bi-bi Paladins of Voltron bi-bi-bi Zarkon!" The noodle said._

"Uh, what was that?" Beast Boy asked, staring at the noodle. "I only got 'Paladins of Voltron' and 'Zarkon.'"

"That was Bii-Boh-Bi. He was our translator," Coran explained.

"In what language?"

"Bii-Boh, of course."

 _The noodle people in the stands cheered and waved their skinny noodle arms._

 _Showtime:_

 _"Oh no!" Coran said, "It's Zarkon and the evil witch, Haggar!"_

 _"Bi-boh-bi-bi Zarkon! Boh-boh-bi Haggar!"_

 _Noodle versions of the villains walked onto the ice. "It is I, the greatest force of evil this universe has ever seen!" Noodle Zarkon declared._

 _"Sire, soon, you will defeat the Paladins and Voltron will be yours," Noodle Haggar simpered._

 _"Not if I have something to say about it!" Hunk slid to them on the ice, brandishing his bayard. However, what little balance he had slipped as his center of gravity changed and his legs did a split. He quickly tried to fix it, but lost his balance completely and ungracefully flailed and kicked his legs trying to get a grip on the slippery ice. He slipped past the two noodle villains and fell flat on his back and continued sliding like a starfish across the rink. Hunk eventually stopped sliding when he hit the wall head first. Pidge, next to him, looked down and started skating out._

"How graceful," Raven said dryly as she watched Hunk miserably fail at skating. Keith snorted.

 _"Look, it's Pidge!" Coran pointed as Pidge neared the noodle villains._

 _"Don't worry, Hunk! I got your back!" Pidge said determinedly._

 _"She'll use her math and calculations to defeat Zarkon!" Coran proclaimed dramatically._

 _"Bi-bi Pidge! Bi-bi-boh Zarkon!"_

Lance cracked up at Pidge's offended expression and his already aching ribs started screaming from the strain of laughter. "He got you down good, Pidge!" He gasped out.

"Pidge, you _are_ very good at math," Shiro said comfortingly. "Although Zarkon may not know what calculus is."

"BAHAHAHA!" Lance howled in laughter as Pidge scowled at Shiro and aimed to kick him. Shiro easily deflected her foot and Pidge pouted as she leaned further into Keith and away from the dying Lance.

 _Noodle Haggar threw something at Pidge's feet and she was enveloped in smoke. When the smoke cleared, Pidge was tied up in a pink ribbon and seemingly unable to talk even though the ribbon only covered the helmet. Pidge fell to the ground._

 _"Oh no, the witch's magic has counteracted Pidge's math!" Coran narrated, making horrified faces. "What are they going to do?!"_

"Did Zarkon figure out all of your algebra equations?" Lance chuckled, avoiding Pidge's kick to the shin.

"At least Zarkon knows algebra," Pidge retorted, her turn to chuckle as Lance gave an offended cry.

"Alright, you two." Shiro stuck a hand between the two squirming bodies and motioned for them to quiet as the show kept playing.

 _Coran winked at his co-host and he pressed a button that turned on all the lights in the rink. Spotlights moved to the other two Paladins and Allura who stood there, posing._

 _"We need teamwork!" Shiro announced. Striking another pose, he added, "The only way to defeat Zarkon is with Voltron!"_

 _Hunk and Pidge hurried and became a part of the pose. They all put on cardboard props of their Lions' heads._

 _Allura and Pidge held their Lion heads to mimic arms, Lance and Hunk knelt at the base wearing helmets of the Lions' heads, and Shiro had on a giant head of Voltron on and a chest box with a V on it._

 _"Does anyone else feel kind of stupid right now?" Hunk asked as the noodles cheered._

 _"Shut up, Hunk!" Lance hissed. "They're loving us."_

"I felt really stupid," Pidge said to Hunk in agreement. "Lance was really the only one liking the shows. And he was only enjoying the attention."

"I'm not the only one who liked it!" Lance protested. "Shiro, how about you?"

"On with the video," Shiro commanded, not looking at Lance. Lance gave Shiro a betrayed look.

"Ha!" Pidge crowed in triumph.

"Shiro!"

 _Lance and Hunk crawled forward to the noodle villains with the rest of the Paladins and Allura still in their same pose. The Red and Green Lion heads spat out confetti at the noodle villains and they flew back._

 _"I'll get you next time," Noodle Zarkon called as he and Noodle Haggar were pulled into a cloud of smoke theoretically in 'defeat.'_

 _After the show, the Paladins were gathered in a room._

 _"How many of these appearances do we have to put on?" Pidge asked in annoyance as they threw their cardboard Lion heads in the corner._

 _Shiro sighed. "I know they seem humiliating, but Coran's ideas are working."_

"See? Shiro thought it was embarrassing too," Hunk pointed out to a pouting Lance. Shiro smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, Lance."

"Yeah, yeah. I was the only good actor anyway." Lance sniffed.

 _"Every performance draws more people to the cause," Shiro said as Pidge gave him a disbelieving look._

 _Over to their right, Lance was signing his autograph to a bunch of noodle women with a self-satisfied smirk. "Exactly. All that stuff."_

 _"Alright! Let's go! Come on! We've got business to discuss!" Coran said as he shoved the noodle women out, much to Lance's displeasure. "First of all, great job. Tonight was a big success. Now, we're back on track, better than ever! There's no doubt about it, you're stars. But, to go supernova, you gotta push it even further."_

 _"A supernova is an exploding star," Pidge stated blankly._

 _"And what's brighter than that?" Coran shrieked in her face as she flinched back in surprise. He whipped his head to face everyone else who looked at him hesitantly. "Here's the deal. I've worked up very specific personas for each of you. This is gonna help the audience connect on a much deeper level with each team member." He whirled around an pointed at Lance. "There's Loverboy Lance."_

 _"Loverboy Lance?" Lance repeated with a smirk. "It's perfect because it's true."_

"Ironic since you can't seem to get a girlfriend," Pidge remarked. Keith gave her a pat on the head for a job well done. Shiro and Hunk exchanged exasperated but fond looks at them.

"Th-that's because I'm a Paladin! I can't do long distance!" Lance scoffed.

 _"You're Science-Whiz Pidge. Whoa! Look out, big brain!" Coran said to the vaguely annoyed but flattered Pidge._

 _"We've got Lone Wolf Keith." Coran flashed to Allura. "That's you. Because you're Keith. I'm thinking your catchphrase could be like a howl!" Coran mimed claws with his hands. Allura's expression went so flat so fast that Coran backed up a bit. She snarled at him. "Well, that's more of a growl, keep working on it."_

"Lone Wolf Keith?" Keith said, frowning. "That doesn't fit at all."

"Yeah, it's more like Emo Keith," Lance said with a laugh. "Your catchphrase could be: I'm Keith. I'm soo emo."

"Hey, I came up with that," Pidge bantered half-heartedly.

 _"Hunk, from now on, you'll be Humorous Hunk," Coran said to an ironically very unamused Hunk. Coran zipped past him and knelt before a dubious Shiro. "And lastly, Shiro the Hero!" Coran maneuvered Shiro's arm to go into a flexing pose and Shiro glared at him from the corner of his eye._

"We should call him that from now on," Keith said with a smirk in Shiro's direction. He wanted someone else to feel the embarrassment other than him.

"It totally fits," Lance agreed, much to Shiro's alarm.

"Then is it a team vote?" Hunk asked the Paladins.

"Yup!" Pidge cheered.

"No," Shiro said weakly.

"Well, it's four against one, Shiro," Keith said with a bigger smirk.

"Shiro the Hero!" Lance hollered.

"Shiro, Lance's Hero," Pidge ribbed. Lance turned red and he elbowed Pidge.

"What?" Beast Boy asked.

"Nothing!" Lance said quickly as he shoved Pidge's face into Keith's torso. Keith snorted and pushed Pidge back gently as to not hurt her and to avoid crushing his ribs at the same time.

 _Showtime:_

 _Shiro, Allura, and Pidge were battling the Galra props while Coran and Hunk watched from behind the curtain._

 _"Remember, you're Humorous Hunk," Coran said to Hunk, "so be funny."_

 _Hunk, after everything that he had done so far, just accepted the weirdness and agreed immediately, "Yeah. Okay." He then paused. "... How do I do that?"_

 _Coran put his hand on Hunk's shoulder. "Don't worry, alright? I got you covered." As Hunk ran out with his bayard, Coran spoke into his earpiece. "Bii-Boh-Bi, engage Humorous Hunk."_

 _Something popped up and tripped Hunk, sending him rolling down the ramp. He landed ungracefully and his bayard went flying. As Hunk bent over to pick it up, Coran pressed something that sent a huge fart noise through the speakers. Hunk stood back up quickly, embarrassed._

 _"That… that wasn't me. That… I don't know who that was!" Hunk exclaimed. Another fart noise followed his statement._

 _After a while of shows, Shiro approached Coran. "Coran! I think it would go a long way if I can deliver a speech about how we're trying to unite a front and build a coalition."_

 _Coran gasped as if Shiro had insulted his family. "What? Stop talking! You're Shiro the Hero! Heroes don't speak." Coran used his hands to cover all his face except the eyes like a ninja mask. "You're a silent ninja!"_

 _"But-"_

 _"Shhhh!" Coran held up Shiro's arm in a flexing pose again. "Muscles speak louder than words!" Coran shoved a tiny piece of cloth at Shiro. "Now, put on this super tight shirt and get out there!"_

 _After that show, it was Pidge's turn to approach Coran. "Hey, Coran, I'm having real issues with the science you put in the script. It doesn't make sense."_

 _"Oh, it doesn't have to!" Coran said flippantly, messing around with the castle's controls._

 _Pidge's face scrunched up in frustration. "But I hate saying all these made-up scientific words. Isn't the audience gonna be confused?"_

 _Coran scoffed. "They'd be confused if you used the real words too!"_

"That's true, Pidge. Your techno terms don't make sense to anyone but Hunk," Lance said to the frowning Pidge.

"Sorry, Pidge." Shiro gave her a pat on the leg. Pidge scowled.

 _Later that night, they put on another show._

 _"What just happened?" Allura asked dramatically. She quickly crossed her arms and scowled, imitating Keith and also expressing her own emotion about the shows._

"I don't act that moody," Keith mumbled.

"Yes, you do, Keith," Shiro said. "Don't deny it."

 _Pidge sighed and hesitantly pronounced her made-up words Coran threw at her. "I just reconfigured the… flytzal... mac protocol to reverse-quadrant the spectrum... harfinger."_

"You know… that actually does sound like what you say!" Lance said jokingly. Keith grabbed her leg at Shiro's gesture to prevent her from doing permanent damage to Lance who wisely put a little distance between the two of them.

 _"Mm!" Hunk said. "I guess Pidge just defeated the Galra with science!" A fart echoed after his sentence and Hunk stood up in faux embarrassment. After a while of the farts, he just developed an immunity to the embarrassment. It also got super tacky super quickly._

 _Coran and his noodle co-host exchanged thumbs ups behind the scenes. Then, the lights moved to an area on a wall._

 _Lance gracefully descended on a rope hanging from the Blue Lion's jaw. He was ribbon dancing on a rope._

 _"You're great, Loverboy Lance!" Coran called._

 _Lance laughed arrogantly. "Hahaha, thanks, Blue."_

Pidge rolled her eyes. "That was such a pimp laugh."

"What?! No!"

"Yes it was, Lance," Hunk said, shaking his head.

"Dude!" Beast Boy chimed in, pointing excitedly at the screen. "I didn't know you could do that!"

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Impressive."

Lance puffed out his chest, shooting Pidge a pointed look. "Well at least, _some people_ appreciate my great show skills!"

"Someone has to," Pidge deadpanned.

"Hey!"

The clip skipped until they got to Coran's little outburst before their last show.

 _"You're a bunch of quitters!" Coran glared at them all. "Quitters! I'm a visionary! I have thoughts, ideas! I don't need you anyway! I'll rewrite the show! Get rid of the whole lot of ya!" Coran exclaimed, storming out of the room. The door opened and he turned back to send them one last glower. "Replace you with new Paladins! And the show will be better than ever before!" The door shut behind him. It reopened quickly, however. "Except for you, Shiro." Coran reentered with a twitching grin. "I'll never get rid of you. You're our most popular character." His expression turned angry again. "BUT THE REST OF YOU WILL NEVER WORK IN SHOW BUSINESS AGAIN!"_

"Why is Coran so angry?" Starfire asked, looking at the usually calm Altean.

"We told him we only had one more show left and he wanted to stop fighting Galra and continue doing shows," Lance explained.

"It was the brainworm," Coran said, ashamed.

 _They all watched Coran leave with a bit of relief._

 _Lance frowned and leaned forward. "Wait._ You're _the most popular character?!" He asked Shiro._

 _All the Paladins let out a collective sigh._

"That was definitely the most important thing to say," Raven deadpanned.

"It was!"

"The clip is done now. The rest was deemed unnecessary junk and will not be shown for lack of comedy," the computer said.

"Well, that was a trainwreck," Cyborg remarked.

"And Keith didn't have to suffer at all!" Pidge complained. "He was off and not experiencing the embarrassment Coran forced on us."

"Well, I was with the Blade of Marmora!" Keith argued.

"We're a family, Keith," Lance simpered with a grin. "We need to experience everything together."

Keith's brows furrowed. "What?"

Shiro shrugged. "I guess this will make for a good bonding exercise. Allura, you can help Coran tell us what to do since Keith is here again."

Allura smiled. "My pleasure."

* * *

"You know," Hunk said wryly as they were once again in pyramid formation with their cardboard Lion heads, "I still feel as stupid doing this as I did before."

"Agreed," Pidge grumbled, unhappily glaring at the very entertained and amused Titans.

"At least Mullet has to go through this with us this time!" Lance remarked, a little too happily for Keith's taste.

Keith sighed. "Did this actually work to convince the aliens to join Voltron?"

"Yes it did!" Coran said indignantly, twirling his mustache in aggravation. He turned to the Titans. "Would this not convince you to join us?"

Beast Boy, who with Cyborg were rolling on the floor with laughter, gasped out, "Yeah, dude!"

"Most definitely!" Starfire cheered, clapping her hands.

Even Raven gave a small nod.

"Can we get out of this pose now?" Lance groaned. "Mullet isn't exactly light."

"No!" Cyborg giggled. "Stay like that!"

Lance grimaced. "Lose some weight, Mullet." He shifted slightly, causing the entire pyramid to move.

"Lance!" Pidge shrieked. "Stop moving!"

"It's muscle weight!" Keith retorted, flushing slightly.

"Come on, you guys," Hunk implored, not wanting Lance to cause them to fall apart. Pidge was already wobbling and Shiro, relying on Keith and Pidge, was also losing his balance.

"Well, you try being a leg and see how you like holding up someone as heavy as you!" Lance shot back, shifting again and ignoring the gripes of the others.

"Lance, it's not that bad," Hunk tried to pacify his friend and a glowering Keith.

"Easy for you to say!" Lance muttered. "You have Pidge! Pidge is tiny and weighs nothing!"

"Hey!" Pidge protested at the jab about her height.

"Calm down, Lance," Shiro said soothingly. "I'm sure we're done with the pyramid now." He clambered off of them and Pidge and Keith followed suit, Lance and Hunk finally getting off of their sore knees.

"At least we can't reenact the ice show," Hunk said in relief.

"Or the Loverboy Lance bit," Pidge added. "I think I was scarred for life."

"What?! My ribbon dancing was amazing!" Lance complained. "I'm sure everyone would love to see it again."

Keith, feeling vengeful for the remark about his weight earlier, stated, "The only person who wants to see it again is you."

"Shut up, Keith. No one asked you," Lance sniffed, pouting. "I think Allura made a better Keith than you do."

"Now, now," Shiro said, trying to calm the two quarreling teens, "Lance, apologize to Keith. Keith, apologize to Lance."

"I have nothing to apologize for." Lance stuck his nose in the air and stalked off to his room.

"Well then, neither do I!" Keith also stalked off to his room. But since they were in the same wing of the Tower, they just ended up going in the same direction.

"Quit following me!" They heard Lance shriek.

"I'm not following you! We live in the same wing!"

Shiro and the other two Paladins exchanged a knowing glance. "Those two really like fighting with each other," Hunk murmured, shaking his head in exasperation.

"I think it's their way of entertaining each other." Pidge snickered and collected the cardboard Lion heads, handing them to Coran.

"It's their way of showing affection," Shiro commented.

"Or pent up sexual tension," Pidge quipped. Hunk and Shiro gave her appalled glances, both for her language and her suggestion.

"Pidge!" Shiro gave her a disapproving look. She shrugged back with an unapologetic grin.

"You can't tell me you haven't noticed," she reasoned.

"Pidge, I don't need that mental image." Hunk made a disgusted face. "Ugh, that's gross."

Beast Boy and Cyborg, who had recently recovered from their laughing fit, went down in giggles again.

"Sexual tension? What is that?" Starfire questioned, unaware of the horror in Hunk and Shiro's faces as she asked. Shiro gave Pidge a look, begging her not to say anything. Pidge ignored it and smirked.

"You know," Pidge said with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, "when two people want to fu-"

"PIDGE!" Shiro yelled, blushing at the youngest Paladin's crude words. Hunk covered his face, not sure if he wanted to laugh or cry at Pidge's words.

"I was going to say 'fuel each other's anger.'.." Pidge said innocently.


	8. Chapter 8: The Inkblot test

**Hey, guys! It's been a while! Not really...but anyway. Welcome to another chapter of this crap! Before I let you guys read, I have like three things to say.**

 **Firstly, I got the idea to write this chapter and then Silver, the other author working on this story with me, thought it'd be interesting to do it. So we ended up writing this. Fun fact, I visited a friend of my parents' and they all decided to do the Inkblot test which is a game to figure out one's personality. So I thought it'd be cool to have the Titans and Paladins do it.**

 **Secondly, (slightly spoiler warning but this is also a warning about the story so): There are mini arcs strung throughout this story. It's basically a crack fic, but, there are arcs that span across several chapters and have some form of plot to them. Of course, with these arcs comes some light and heavy angst. If you don't want to read the angst... then skip it. But I'm putting this here to warn you guys. The first mini arc is approaching and bits of it will show up in this chapter until the arc actually starts. So, you've been warned. (I would suggest reading them, they're interesting).**

 **Lastly, this chapter will have some deeper themes in it. Nothing too bad, but deeper than previous chapters. Because personality and secrets and those kind of things. Just a little warning.**

 **Anyway, I'm done. Enjoy~**

* * *

The next day, as everyone was gathered around the table eating Hunk's amazing breakfast, Beast Boy blurts out, "Remember the time Robin left?"

"Oh yeah!" Cyborg said, glaring at the suddenly nervous leader of the Titans.

"Yes, it was a very sad time," Starfire said sadly, the beginnings of a storm cloud forming over her head.

"Oh, so your emo member left too?" Lance asked casually, trying to wave away the rain from his plate.

"Emo?" Keith and Robin growled.

"I left to find a lead on my heritage," Keith muttered defensively.

"I needed to get stronger," Robin mumbled in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah, you left to be emo, got it," Lance said dismissively, waving a hand at them flippantly.

With twin glares on their faces, the two black-haired males rounded on Lance, but Shiro intercepted them and gently put them back into their chairs.

Pidge, Hunk, Raven, and Cyborg wisely decided to stay out of this as they scooted back from the table and towards Allura and Coran who were in a deep conversation with Starfire. Although, Hunk had to drag a laughing Pidge with him as she wanted to make little jabs at Keith as well.

"Wow, I can't believe that your emo kid left too," Lance was remarking to Beast Boy.

"Yeah," Beast Boy nodded sagely, "we stole his clothes and pretended to be him."

Lance looked at him in amazement and a light bulb lit up above his head. "That," he said with a grin spreading across his face as he snapped his fingers in excitement, "is a great idea."

Keith groaned and glowered at Beast Boy. "Why?"

"Keith," Lance sang, sliding up to the tired Red Paladin, "do you have any spare jackets?"

"No," Keith said flatly, crossing his arms.

Pidge, finally escaping from Hunk's restraint, sing-songed, "How about mullet wigs?"

Lance started giggling and gave Pidge a high-five for the remark as they both snickered at the sulking Keith.

"It's too bad we only got a few hours to dress up." Beast Boy sighed. "Robin came back in like a day."

"Did you want me to stay gone?" Robin sniffed, obviously offended by the comment.

"Well then…" Lance snorted. "Keith left for _two years_."

"In my defense," Keith protested at the Titans' shocked looks, "I was stuck in a time loop!"

"Excuses~" Lance smirked. "He cheated his way into getting cooler and taller."

"What do you mean?" Beast Boy asked curiously.

Pidge smiled widely and pulled out her laptop from thin air and pushed up her glasses. She pulled something up on the screen and flipped it around to show them. "This is Keith before he left…" A slightly younger Keith with a rounder face and less worry lines. "And this is Keith after!" A picture of Keith now with his more angular face and stress lines.

"Whe- where did you get those?!" Keith sputtered, trying to snatch the laptop away from Pidge's grinning form.

"Not telling!" Pidge snickered, stowing her laptop away hastily to prevent Keith from breaking it. "Also, you wanna know what Lance said to Keith when he got back?"

The Titans leaned forward in interest and Keith and Shiro exchanged amused looks

"Uh, Pidge," Lance said, suddenly sweating as he tried to distract the youngest Paladin, "that's not really important is it-"

"He said, 'How do we know you're the real Keith and not his bigger, cooler, grizzled older brother?'" Pidge crowed, running behind Shiro to avoid Lance's arms trying to quiet her.

Lance blushed and stammered, "Well… you… you saw what he looked like before!"

"Mmhmm…" Pidge hummed smugly from behind the safety of Shiro.

"Pidge," Shiro said warningly, watching Lance get redder and redder, "that's enough teasing. And Lance, that should be your lesson learned to stop teasing Keith."

"Come on, Shiro," Lance whined, the red on his cheeks residing, "haven't you ever wanted to wear Keith's jacket?"

"You mean the one he never takes off and is full of his sweat?" Pidge asked skeptically, wrinkling her nose.

"I wash it!" Keith said defensively. At Pidge's disbelieving look, he rolled his eyes and put her in a headlock. Pidge squirmed and protested as he kept her there as punishment for her comment.

"But I'm sure Shiro has wanted to wear it at some point!" Lance reasoned. He turned to the pensive leader of the Paladins expectantly. "Right?"

"..." Shiro was silent for a moment.

"Right?" Lance pestered a slowly sweating Shiro.

"Hunk," Shiro said suddenly.

Hunk jerked, not expecting to be spoken to. "Uh… yeah?"

"Hold Keith down."

Keith yelped and quickly let go of Pidge as Hunk barreled into him and knocked him to the ground and sat on him. Lance wrestled the jacket off of a squirming Keith and jumped away triumphantly, holding the jacket in the air. Pidge watched all of this with a bemused look and stuck her tongue out at Keith.

"Karma."

"That's not how karma works," Keith muttered. "You should be the one getting karma since you made that remark about my jacket!"

Pidge cackled and helped Hunk with holding Keith down by sitting on his legs.

"Aha!" Lance handed the jacket reluctantly to Shiro who took it and struggled to fit his human arm through the sleeve. His Galra arm was a bit smoother as it was made of metal and it slid in slightly easier despite the tight fit.

Keith watched in despair as he gave up struggling and lay there limply as he watched Shiro and Lance take turns trying on the jacket. Lance also grabbed Keith's knife from his hip and pretended to wield it, slicing it through the air.

"You're going to cut yourself," Keith grumbled, rolling his eyes as Lance dropped the knife and nearly impaled his foot. Sheepishly, Lance sheathed it. He did still keep it on his own hip, though.

"Pidge, why don't you try it out?" Lance held the jacket out the the Green Paladin and she took it gingerly. Unlike Shiro, who struggled to fit his arms in the sleeves, or Lance, whose arms were too long for the sleeves, it engulfed Pidge and she had to roll the sleeves up in order to see her hands. She flailed her arms and the sleeves flapped around and smacked Keith's legs continuously. He huffed and kicked his legs gently so she would roll off of them and onto the floor.

Hunk, who had been snapping pictures of them all, eagerly handed the camera over to Pidge when it came to his turn to put on the jacket. He barely managed to fit his arms through and Keith swore he heard the unmistakable horrendous sound of seams popping.

Hunk clambered off of Keith who scowled and snatched back his jacket. When he put it back on, the sleeves were way looser than they should have been and he frowned. "You guys stretched my jacket!"

"It wasn't me!" Pidge said quickly. "I'm too small!"

Keith rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time that night and just took off the jacket, slinging it over the back of the chair. He eyed Pidge's hoodie and smiled slightly.

"It's only fair that I get to try on something from each of you then," Keith said, stretching his hand out towards Pidge.

"Yeah! We can dress up as each other!" Hunk said enthusiastically. He was already taking his jacket off.  
Pidge gave Keith a dirty look and begrudgingly lifted the hoodie over her head to reveal a tank top she wore underneath. When Keith's hand didn't retract as she handed over her shirt, she also handed him her glasses.

"Why did you pick me?" Pidge grumbled darkly.

Keith shrugged. "You were closest." He slipped on the shirt, which was a bit tight on him even with how loose it was on Pidge. He put on the glasses and Pidge snorted.

"You know, the nerdy look doesn't really work on Keith," Hunk remarked, staring at Keith intensely. Pidge nodded in agreement.

"Ooh! I want to be Shiro!" Lance said enthusiastically, tugging at Shiro's vest.

Shiro smiled in amusement and took off his vest and glove and even took off his shirt, showing off his toned abdomen to everyone (except Pidge whose eyes were covered by Hunk). Hunk did the same with his outfit, handing it to Shiro (of course Shiro also covered Pidge's eyes). Lance gave his jacket to Pidge, opting to keep his shirt because he didn't want anyone to wear it. Keith reluctantly handed his jacket back to Hunk and soon, all the Paladins had their tops switched.

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk started crying of laughter at everyone's ridiculous outfits and even Shiro and Keith managed a few chuckles and smiles. Each time they changed clothes, Pidge would be swathed in the larger clothing sizes of the males and Shiro and Hunk would barely squeeze into the smaller clothes of their teammates', even ripping a few items, much to their horror. Lance and Keith were about each other's sizes and could even almost comfortably fit into Pidge's oversized (for her) hoodie.

Pidge looked down at what were currently Hunk's gloves on her hands. "These gloves kind of make me feel emo…" She admitted, giving an affronted Hunk a sheepish glance.

"You know, Paladins, these gloves make me feel emo too," Lance said in his best impression of Keith, flashing his red jacket and fingerless gloves as he posed dramatically with his head bowed and hand spread in front of his face.

Beast Boy cackled and Robin turned red in embarrassment at the familiar wording of the line. He nudged Beast Boy who whispered something to Cyborg and both of them fell to the floor in peals of laughter.

"Mask! Cool!" Beast Boy choked out, prompting Robin to smack him.

"What are they laughing about?" Pidge quietly asked Hunk. Hunk shrugged at her and they looked at the similarities between Robin and Keith's flaming red faces with unhidden amusement.

Keith gave Lance an unimpressed look. "What are you doing." He was so unimpressed the question became a statement as he just blankly stared at Lance's pose.

"I'm…" Lance started giggling before quickly composing himself, " _emo_ tating you."

"Pffft…" Hunk started laughing as Keith's blank face turned even blanker and he facepalmed. Shiro and Pidge shared a look and slowly approached Keith as to hold him back from Lance.

Before Keith could hurt Lance, Allura clapped her hands together. "This was interesting, but now you have to fix your clothes."

"How do we do that?" Lance asked, still happily posing in Keith's clothing.

"You did this, you clean up," Allura answered simply.

* * *

"I can't believe we're doing this." Keith frowned at the needle and thread in his hands.

"Well, we do kind of deserve this," Shiro said sheepishly, not having to do anything because only Hunk was close to his size and was still smaller than he was.

"Easy for you to say," Pidge complained, "look at my poor hoodie! It's been destroyed!" She held up her green shirt and it was twice as big as before and one of the sleeves had a giant hole in it from where Lance accidentally ripped a hole in it with the Galra knife.

"My jacket is stretched," Keith uttered mournfully, trying to fix his jacket to how it was before. "I don't even know if you can fix it."

"Hunk, what did you do to my clothes, bud?" Lance whimpered, trying to mend his jacket. It had a torn seam and Lance was struggling to fix it, but no matter what he did, he just made it worse.

"Sorry, Lance," Hunk said, not really having to do much as only Shiro was slightly larger than he was.

"This is your fault anyway, Lance," Pidge mumbled, giving up on repairing her jacket. "There is no way I can fix this."

"You're the smallest, Pidge," Hunk observed sympathetically, "your clothes probably got the worst of it."

"Hey," Lance whimpered, "I'm skinny." He held up his jacket dramatically. "Look at my jacket! Look at it! Shiro, you betrayed me!"

Lance yelled out a pained yell as he stabbed himself with the needle again. Pidge was actually the only one who hadn't hurt herself yet. "My brother taught me," she would respond when asked how she was doing so well.

"Sorry," Shiro apologized sheepishly, being the main culprit of most of the damage done to the clothing as he was the biggest out of all of them.

Deciding that they had suffered enough and learned their lesson, Allura and Coran stepped in, fixing the clothes.

"Let's not do that again," Pidge said quickly, hugging her hoodie to her tightly.

"Agreed," Keith nodded, slipping on his jacket and noting with relief that it felt as it did before.

"Well…" Lance smiled. "Wasn't it fun though?"

" _Lance_."

* * *

"Hm…" A dark figure smirked, staring intently at the Titans and Paladins displayed on the screen continuously looping them fighting the Hive Five. "It appears some new people have arrived."

* * *

"You know what?!" Hunk said excitedly. "Since we're back on Earth, we should play my favorite childhood game!"

"What is it?" Lance asked, lazily sprawled on the couch.

"It's called the 'Inkblot test!'"

"Oh, is it the Rorschach test?" Pidge inquired, looking up from her computer for a brief moment.

"Yeah, it's really fun!"

"Do you have the required pictures?" Pidge asked, stowing her laptop away and peering at Hunk in interest.

"Um… no." Hunk looked crestfallen as he came to the realization of the lack of cards. Pidge looked at him pityingly before something hit her.

"Wait!" She pulled her laptop out again and turned to face Robin. He quirked a brow at her as she blurted out, "Do you have a printer?"

"Yes… it's over there-"

"Thanks!" Pidge looked at the printer Robin was pointing to and typed something quickly. A few seconds later, the unmistakable noise of printing filled the room as pieces of paper started exiting the machine. Pidge grabbed the papers and nodded in satisfaction. "The power of WiFi and the Internet!" Pidge exclaimed as she presented the paper to everyone.

On the paper were the outlines of cards, some of the cards had a long description, and the others had oddly shaped colored blobs.

"Wow, Pidge!" Hunk said in amazement as he took the papers from her. "You printed out the cards!"

"Yup! Now where are the scissors?" Pidge muttered to herself as she rummaged around the various items cluttered on the table. Keith raised his knife, unsheathing it swiftly. Pidge eyed him warily as he approached her.

"I got it." He took the paper from the frozen Pidge and sliced it up neatly into squares. The Paladins stared at him for a long time. He started to sweat a little after the first few seconds before snapping defensively at them, "What?"

"We didn't know you could do that!" Lance cried, snatching the knife and waving the very sharp point in Keith's face. "What else have you been hiding from us? Have you also mastered sword-making?!"

Keith leaned back from the knife and frowned at Lance. Shiro sighed and gently removed the knife from Lance's hands and placed it carefully on the table.

Hunk and Pidge exchanged looks before picking up the squares. "Well, let's play!" Hunk chirped, shoving the cards in between Keith and Lance. Neither took them so the cards ended up fluttering back on the floor.

"How do we play?" Keith asked, picking up the fallen squares in bewilderment.

"Um, you pick a card and explain what you see and then depending on what you see, you get assigned a description of your personality," Hunk explained, looking at Pidge for confirmation. Pidge nodded back and laid out all of the cards out in front of her. The Paladins and Titans crowded around.

"We'll start with Keith and then go clockwise," Pidge instructed, motioning around to demonstrate the order of turns. Keith blinked in surprise at being put on the spot and looked at the cards hesitantly. He picked out a card labeled 9 with a grey, red, and black, almost orchid-like blob on it.

Starfire, who was sitting directly beside the Red Paladin, leaned towards him and peered curiously at the colored mess. "I do not understand. How is one to see something in this?"

"It's different for each person! Well… alien in your case. Trust me, it's really fun!" Hunk said to her, nudging Keith who was staring at the blob with a small tilt to his head. "Go ahead, Keith."

"… So I describe what I see?" Keith asked hesitantly. Pidge and Hunk nodded. "The whole image or parts of it?"

"You can say whatever you see. If you see multiple things, tell us the multiple things." Pidge picked up the corresponding description card with a nine on it and looked at the descriptions before letting out a surprised scoff.

"What?" Keith asked when Pidge looked at him and back at the card she was holding with a large grin.

"Nothing, just tell me what you see." Pidge fought to keep the laughter out of her voice as Keith gave her a suspicious look but complied.

"The top of the image looks like a woman holding her dress above a pair of dolphins." Keith gave Pidge an irritated look as she burst out laughing, clutching her side as she tried to stay upright.

"Where do you see that?" Hunk blurted, staring at the card in confusion. "I don't see that at all!" Pidge couldn't stop her giggles as Keith glared at her.

"What's so funny?" Lance asked curiously, trying to peer at the card in Pidge's hands. She hid it from view and gestured for Keith to continue, trying to maintain a straight face.

He gave her another suspicious glance but said, "A clown with a nosebleed."

"Well, Keith," Pidge snickered, "it appears that based on the images you see… you are most definitely emo."

Lance let out a loud laugh and took the card from Pidge and read it. A smiling Shiro took the card from Lance, who collapsed on Pidge; the two of them were clutching each other as they laughed hysterically.

"You have got to be kidding." Keith growled.

"Actually, Keith," Shiro said in amusement, "they're not. Look for yourself."

Keith snatched the card and read it, practically trying to glare the paper into some sort of submission.

 _You charisma, often of the darkly brooding type, does not go unnoticed. This may be good for your ego, but it does not necessarily add much to your self-esteem. You certainly are not near the sort of self-acceptance Oscar Wilde joked about when he said, "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."_

Keith unhappily scowled and moved on to the next description, hoping it would be better than the first.

 _No one could call you a recluse because you're social and seek out company, but you do have aloof tendencies. Some acerbic struggle seems to be boiling away under the surface. You can find yourself keeping people at a distance almost instinctively, a habit that will cause your friends concern. After all, only God has the right to solitude, as they say in Turkey._

"See?!" Lance howled in laughter upon the peeved expression on Keith's face. "You're an emo!"

Starfire giggled as she read over his shoulder and before Keith could pull it away, it was snatched by Beast Boy who had climbed atop his shoulders as a small monkey and sprung away with the card. He changed back and read it for himself, joining Lance and Pidge as they practically cried from hysteria.

"I'm Keith," Pidge choked out, body quaking from a mixture of her own laughter and Lance's frantic shaking of her shoulders.

"Don't say it," Keith snapped, ears turning red as he snatched it back and shoved the card back at a snickering Shiro.

"I'm so emo!" Lance and Pidge chorused together, falling back on each other, tears of laughter streaming down their faces. Keith gave them a glare before huffing.

"Lance, it's your turn," Hunk said, trying to break up the tension between the still cackling Green and Blue Paladins and Keith.

"O-Okay," Lance said, wiping away a tear as the laughter died down to a few giggles. He picked up a yellow ink splotch with a patch of red and a brown line in the middle. "Hm… this looks like a… butterfly!"

"What card is it?" Pidge asked, looking through the mess of cards splayed out in the middle.

"Uh 7."

Shiro picked up the description card with the corresponding number and the grin that had been lingering from the moments prior slowly slipped off. The light-hearted, cheery mood faded as they saw the somber look on Shiro's face.

"What does it say?" Lance asked impatiently.

"Maybe it says something like, 'you spend too much effort on your looks,'" Pidge said in an effort to lighten the mood.

"Hey, all that effort is worth it!" Lance responded, grinning. He gestured to himself confidently. "I mean, look at me!"

"There isn't much," Keith said dryly, still salty about his card. Raven gave him an absent minded pat on the shoulder, having been sitting nearby with her hood pooled at her shoulders and eyes focused on the book in her hands.

Lance ignored him and turned back to Shiro expectantly. "So? What's it say, Shiro?"

Shiro blinked hesitantly. "Maybe it's best if you read it first," he said quietly, handing the card to Lance.

Lance's grin grew strained as he read the shockingly accurate and almost painfully true description.

 _You are very emotional, feel things very deeply, and have an acute sense of responsibility and concern for others. It is one of the reasons you are greatly loved; it is also one of the reasons you don't ask for what you need more. The consequences can often be painful—you can mess up badly because you've said, "Oh, I'll be fine"—and you kick yourself every time._

"Lance?" Hunk asked in concern as he saw his friend's unreadable expression. "Is there something wrong?"

Robin stared pensively at the Cuban, searching his face for anything besides the brief flicker that had crossed his expression. He hadn't ever thought much of him, only seeing a shallow teen on the outside, but he knew that reaction wasn't normal. Even Raven looked up, noticing the normally eccentric boy's mood suddenly quietened.

"No, no!" Lance said with a forced laugh. "I just was a little surprised at what the sentences said."

"You don't have to read the description if you don't want to," Pidge said, putting a hand on Lance's knee. "We won't force you to."

Lance shook his head and sighed. "It just struck a little too close to home," he muttered quietly. He held it out to Pidge for her to read.

Pidge silently took the card and instead of reading it, she tore it in two. Lance looked at her in shock and then at the ripped piece of paper in her hands. Pidge ripped it a few more times for good measure and threw it in the trash along with the ink card.

"Why'd you rip it up?" Lance asked in shock.

"Well, I just figured we could do without that card," Pidge replied casually. Lance smiled appreciatively. "My turn!" She picked up a card with what looked like yellow fallopian tubes on them. She stared at the card blankly for a minute.

"What do you see?"

"I see a bird with human legs doing a headstand."

"Where?" Keith asked incredulously.

"How? I don't see anything remotely close to that!" Cyborg sputtered, blinking in disbelief at both the card and Pidge.

The Paladins all exchanged a look before peering at the description card.

"... What? Pidge, that's not an option." Lance scoffed at the odd description Pidge sprouted out compared to the fairly normal ones on the card.

Shiro smiled at the creativity of his youngest and motioned for her to guess again.

"How about a really skinny ghost face with pigtails?" Pidge tried, squinting at the card in order to try and find something that might be on the card.

"... Pidge, like seriously. What goes on in that giant brain of yours?" Lance asked, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all.

"Try and go for something more… normal," Hunk suggested, trying to help out the too imaginative Paladin.  
Pidge frowned and concentrated so hard a deep crease formed between her brows. "Uh… some guy flexing."

"Finally!" Lance said in triumph, patting Pidge on the back in congratulations. He read the card out loud with growing amusement. "You are highly capable, to put it mildly."

"Isn't that true," Keith muttered, clearly thinking of all Pidge had done, including altering ancient alien technology on Green to include a cloaking device. Hunk nodded his agreement, giving an affirmative hum as well.

"Running marathons, reconditioning bicycles, cultivating new strains of plants, raising money for social causes—you master everything you turn your hand to."

"That sounds just like Pidge," Shiro agreed.

"Like a competitive athlete, you are naturally gifted and extremely determined. Having the bar raised is a familiar experience, and you pride yourself on always being equal to the challenge."

"Well, I mean, I guess so," Pidge said, pushing up her glasses. "I am smarter than the average person, but I don't know if I'm good at everything."

"You are," Lance said flatly. "Don't even try and act modest. You know you are. You'd probably graduate college right now if you actually went."

"Actually," Pidge said with a glint of her glasses, "I received the opportunity to get accepted into college when I was nine and I would have graduated at thirt-"

"I don't want to hear about your smartness," Lance grumbled, shoving a grinning Pidge into Shiro.

"Hubk, or tun," Pidge mumbled out between a mouthful of Shiro's shirt. Shiro rolled his eyes and removed Pidge gently from his side.

Hunk picked up a card of yellow and red. "It looks like a pair of yellow birds pecking."

Keith blinked at the description and handed it to Hunk wordlessly.

Hunk read it and smiled a bit mirthlessly. "I see. I'm nurturing and lavish such care on others that it seems I don't need any in return."

Hunk decided to not include the last part and merely filed it away mentally. _You're not entirely sure you deserve to be loved at all._

Keith noticed this but did not say anything and merely gazed at Hunk with a knowing look in his eyes, understanding his reluctance to share the last bit.

"Aw, bud!" Lance said, throwing an arm around Hunk's shoulders. "You need all the love in the world!"

"Shiro, your turn~" Pidge sang, grinning up at the Black Paladin. He sighed and picked up a card with red and black splotches scattered about.

"It looks like a mask," Shiro noted. He quickly took the corresponding card from the floor before anyone could see it and read it through. He was resigned when he found the accurate description awaiting him. "I see."

"What?" Lance asked curiously, wanting to see what made Shiro look so depressed.

"It says I'm self critical and elusive," Shiro said vaguely.

"What? Shiro, you're the most confident and coolest person I know!" Lance exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Keith agreed fervently, not even bothering to argue against Lance. Shiro blushed.

"Thanks, you guys," he said bashfully. However, deep down, Shiro felt the gnawings of doubt weaken the kind words the Paladins uttered to him and quickly schooled his expression to hide away the growing darkness lurking in him.

Lance, ever observant as he was, leaned casually against the older man. "Yeah, you're seriously like...my hero! Plus, don't forget," he grinned, tilting his head back to better see Shiro's face, "you're our honorary Space Dad!"

Shiro huffed out a light chuckle, feeling lighter than before, and smiled. "You guys are still making Space Dad jokes?"

"The Space Dad jokes will be around as long as you are," Lance joked, nudging Shiro playfully.

"Or until you evolve into Space Grandpa," Pidge quipped.

"Yeah, when your hair turns completely white from the stress of dealing with us, we'll stop making Space Dad jokes," Lance vowed.

"You'll then start Space Grandpa jokes, won't you," Shiro said knowingly, smiling at the guilty looks on their faces.

"The jokes will never stop," Lance said with a pledging hand held over his heart. "There's Space Dad, Space Grandpa, Space Great-Grandpa, Space Great-Great Grandpa, and all the Greats in the world!"

"Space Dad?" Robin asked slowly, an amused and disbelieving smirk lighting his normally serious expression.

"It's my nickname, apparently," Shiro said with a sigh. "I don't fully understand it either."

"What, do you act like a dad at times, or something?" Beast Boy asked, a curious grin on his face.

"No…" Shiro said, trailing off as he doubted his own words. The Paladins stared at him for a few moments before Lance cleared his throat and puffed out his chest, deepening his voice.

"Alright, enough with the bad sound effects! Besides, it's more like BLAM BLAM BLAM!" he quoted, acting out the Black Paladin's finger guns, as the other Paladins snickered from Shiro's flustered expression and the memory of their brief argument over the sound of laser guns. "You can't say that and then say you _aren't_ a dad."

"He makes a pretty good point there," Pidge said between giggles.

"I suppose you do act as a father at times, Shiro," Allura said with a smile.

"OH! And Coran is our Space Uncle!" Lance said with a sudden grin, shooting upright off of Shiro.

"Yeah, he's the wise old guy," Pidge said, restating her own words.

"Well, Number 5, someone has to preserve the wondrous culture of the Altea of old!" Coran said, twirling his mustache with a nod.

"Number 5?" Raven inquired, looking up from her book.

"I have ranked all of the Paladins based on height!" Coran declared. "Although, now that there are more of you… I may have to rearrange things."

"Did you ever fix the order with Keith after he got back?" Pidge asked, smirking at a suddenly panicked Lance.

"Hm?" Coran twirled his mustache in thought.

"Yeah, because Keith is now taller than-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Lance yelled, and slapped a hand over Pidge's grin.

"You guys are pretty close," Cyborg stated, he and the other Titans having been listening with delighted interest.

"Well, when you're forced into giant magical robotic lions and ejected out into space, you are kind of forced to," Hunk said casually.

"What?" Beast Boy asked, none of the Titans having heard anything of how the Lions had been found. Lance cringed at the reminder, not wishing to acknowledge that it was kind of his fault for being so reckless.

"We should really return to the game!" Pidge said suddenly, opting to save Lance the spotlight. He was, after all, the one who had driven them all through a mysterious wormhole after following Keith's vague instinctual tracking. "Cyborg, your turn!" She gathered up the pile of strewn about cards and shoved them closer to him.

Cyborg picked up the card Keith had picked up earlier. "Man, I don't understand where you got what you did from this card," he said, addressing Keith. "I see… Mr. Cuddles!"

Keith blinked at him in confusion. "Mr. Cuddles?"

"He's my old stuffed animal…" Cyborg admitted sheepishly. "I used to love him."

"Uh, that seems to fall under the description of a long lost cuddly toy," Pidge muttered, scratching her head. She showed the card to Cyborg who read the description and a wistful expression took over his face.

"Man, I wish I didn't have to constantly fight to prove myself."

"Friend Cyborg, what is wrong?" Starfire asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm a cyborg, Star. I don't fit in with everyone else," Cyborg mumbled tiredly. "No one will accept me."

"Dude!" Beast Boy yelled in the most offended tone anyone had ever heard. "I'M _GREEN_!"

"I mean, there are three aliens here among us," Pidge pointed out. "And I mean it's not like we're all normal either."

"I guess," Cyborg said doubtfully.

"If it helps," Keith began slowly, crossing his arms and looking away, "I'm part Galra. My dad was human but my mom is Galra."

"I'm the daughter of Trigon," Raven added quietly, surprising everyone when she spoke.

"What is a Trigon?" Hunk asked curiously, tilting his head.

"A very evil demon," Beast Boy said curtly.

"The reincarnation of evil itself," Raven supplied.

"Sounds like Lotor," Lance grumbled. Pidge let out a snicker from next to him and high-fived him for the smart comment. Shiro sighed and lightly nudged the both of them in a reprimand.

"Well, moving on," Hunk said with an uncharacteristic roll of his eyes, "Starfire, why don't you pick next?"

"Ooh, okay!" Starfire said in delight and took the top card from the pile. Ironically, it was the scariest looking one and almost looked like a representation of death.

"Uh, Star, are you sure you want to pick-" Robin's concerned words were cut off by Starfire's excited shout.

"It looks like a Nigledinker!" Starfire proclaimed.

Coran leaned over, peering at the card and grinned with a loud chuckle. "Ah! Yes! I see it too!"

"I am afraid I do not," Allura said, cocking her head and squinting at the card as she had gotten up to see over the two aliens' heads.

"What is a… Dingleniber?" Lance asked in confusion. Pidge snorted at his butchering of the word.

"A Dingleniber is a dangerous subspecies of the Dinglehibles! The Nigledinker is a harmless little Flubil. It looks just like a Laublbaba but with more Lableele features than Labbel," Coran explained, gesturing grandly with his hands to try and draw the alien in the air.

By the end of the explanation, Lance was more confused than ever, and Beast Boy's eyes were swirling as they tried to comprehend the slew of alien terms that came out of Coran.

"Uh… let's say that's 'alien figure with stubby feet,'" Pidge said.

"Well actually, Nigledinkers have quite long-"

"Shh!" Pidge interrupted, just wanting to get Starfire's turn over with without the migraine all the alien terminology caused her. "Starfire, you are dependable but flighty."

"Robin, what is 'flighty?'" Starfire inquired, turning to Robin with a furrowed brow. "I can fly, is that this card's meaning?"

"Uh… it means…" Robin frowned, not wanting to hurt Starfire's feelings. "Um… irresponsible…"

"Irresponsible? But-"

"Moving on!" Pidge hastily shoved a ink card in Robin's hand and snatched the description card from Starfire.

Robin examined the card for a brief moment. "Rocket."

Pidge rummaged around the mess of cards in front of her before making a triumphant noise and coming back up with the right card. She read through it and stated quite frankly, "You're a hard worker set on getting stronger, but you need to lighten up and be less controlling."

Robin glared at her and read the card himself. Finding her words accurate of the card, he huffed and crossed his arms at his teammates' snickers.

"See, dude?" Beast Boy laughed. "Even the card says you need to stop being so uptight!"

"I am not uptight!" Robin protested.

"Robin, when's the last time you actually did something not having to do with crime?" Raven asked, lowering her book so they could see her rolling her eyes.

"Uh…" Robin frowned as he failed to think of a response.

"See?" Cyborg said with a brotherly thump on Robin's back. "You need to loosen up, man."

"Whatever," Robin grumbled to himself.

"Coran, do you want to go?" Pidge asked, holding the cards up. Allura whispered something to Coran.

"Why yes!" Coran said in delight. But at Allura's look, he deflated and sighed. "But the Princess and I have some business to attend to," he added sadly.

"Oh… that sucks," Pidge said unsympathetically. She was so not in the mood to deal with alien lingo.

"Yes, well, farewell. The Princess and I will retire now." Coran waved and everyone said their goodbyes to the Alteans.

"Poor Coran," Hunk said, looking at the drooped shoulders of the disappointed orange-haired Altean.

"Coran and Allura are always working for the betterment of the universe," Shiro pointed out.

"Wow, they must be really busy!" Beast Boy said in awe.

"Yeah, the Princess has him follow her around and do her busywork," Pidge muttered under her breath. She was neatening up the cards for easier access rather than the pile they were in. Louder, she added, "I guess that means it's Beast Boy's turn."

"Ooh!" Beast Boy picked out a card filled with vibrant blues, yellows, and reds. "These two ladies look like they're laughing!"

Hunk read, "You have a great sense of affinity for nature."

"Hey, that sounds like you, Pidge," Lance joked, prompting laughter from the Paladins.

"Intellectually, it fascinates you-"

"Beast Boy? Intellectual?" Raven scoffed.

Beast Boy let out a hurt noise and turned into an owl. "I'm intellectual!" he hooted.

"But it also satisfies you in a visceral way," Hunk finished.

"What's that mean?" Beast Boy asked in confusion. "That's too big of a word."

"Yeah," Lance agreed. "Did Pidge write the cards?"

"It means instinctual," Raven answered. She turned to Lance with a raised brow. "I thought _you_ , at least, had a brain."

Lance blushed in embarrassment and slight anger. "Why does everyone comment about my lack of intelligence?!"

"Because you are the dumb one," Keith responded dryly. Pidge snorted at the familiar words.

"Zarkon much, Keith?" Pidge laughed. Hunk giggled at the reminder and Lance remained oblivious as he was in an intense staring contest with Keith.

"I don't want to hear that from you!" Lance snapped.

"Of course I have an instinctual affinity to nature!" Beast Boy complained. "I turn into nature!" He turned into a dog to demonstrate.

"Does this always happen?" Robin asked Shiro.

"Yeah," Shiro replied casually. "It's the worst when it happens while we're fighting."

"Oh, that happened when we were fighting a villain named Cinderblock. We almost died."

"You think that's bad?" Shiro scoffed. "You try being in the middle of space without gravity, battling an incredibly powerful alien, and having two of your teammates argue about how fast they can pilot their Lions."

"Uh, guys?" Hunk asked, looking at all the chaos around them. No one responded.

"I guess that signals the end of the game…" Pidge started gathering the cards.

"But Raven didn't get to go!" He looked around. "Where did Cyborg go?"

"He had to go charge… it got too late."

"Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to give him the Balmera crystals!"

"Well… there's always tomorrow." Pidge shrugged and placed the cards on the table. She and Hunk sat back and watched the chaos in front of them unfold.

"You're stupid!" Keith yelled at Lance.

"No, you're stupid!" Lance screamed back.

"Hey, Hunk… do you want to go someplace quieter and leave them here?"

"... Yeah let's go."

* * *

"I really want the tall scarred one," the dark figure hummed, tapping his fingers on the table. "However, I do not know if I can obtain him… the Red Paladin seems interesting as well… yes, I might aim for him instead…"

* * *

"Princess, why are we calling him again?" Coran asked as Allura took out a very small piece of technology not unlike a cellphone.

"This universe's Lotor may as well be our only chance to get out of here and back to our universe."

"I'm not sure, Princess Allura. I think the Paladins can afford to stay here. They deserve a bit more of a break."

In all honesty, Coran felt a sense of pity for the poor Paladins. They might have not physically lost their planet like the Alteans, but they had by all means emotionally and mentally cut themselves off from their home. It was not unlikely they had either been considered dead or traitor to their planet.

"Coran, they need to defeat Zarkon and save the universe," Allura retorted, fiddling with the device angrily.

"But your highness, they have been away from their home for over a year-" Coran tried to pacify.

"The universe is more important!" Allura almost angrily threw down the phone-like object. "We must defeat Zarkon!"

"Your highness… are you intent on defeating Zarkon for the universe or for your own personal grudge?" Coran asked quietly, observing Allura carefully.

"What are you talking about, Coran?" Allura huffed.

"Princess… your goal is a good one… but your intent is not." Coran looked sorrowful as Allura's ire grew.

"Coran-"

"Allura," Coran said seriously, using her name for the first time without a title, "you are so determined to defeat Zarkon, not for the sake of the universe, but for the sake of your pride."

Allura glared and her words dripped poison as she spat, "My pride? My people were my pride! And they are dead! My father, my friends, everyone is dead!" Big, fat tears began dripping down Allura's face, making her cheek marks glimmer with the wet coating.

"That is exactly what I mean, your highness. You are only wanting to defeat Zarkon for the simple reason that you want revenge. All you want is to destroy the Galra just like they destroyed Altea." Coran's tone was even and he did not falter nor raise his voice as he addressed the irate Princess calmly and firmly.

"That is not true, Coran!" Allura's tone turned disbelieving as she stared at the man who had raised her since childhood and stuck with her even with everyone else gone. "I merely want to protect the Galra from doing more harm-"

"Do you or do you not harbor even the slightest bit of hatred for Keith?" Coran asked with a frown.

He had seen the way Allura had treated the Red Paladin and he was in no way proud of her and her spiteful actions towards the innocent boy who had done nothing wrong. Even after she seemed to have gotten over his heritage, he could still hear the slight bitterness in her tone when she spoke to him and how she was not as worried about him on dangerous missions as she was for the other Paladins. He saw how she would prioritize the others above Keith even for the smallest of things. He even could sense that she doubted his ability as a Paladin, with the way she easily let him leave with the Blade.

"Of course not!" Allura scowled at the insinuation. Of course she didn't hate Keith. She would never.

"Did you harbor any distrust in Keith in those first few months he was a Paladin?" Coran asked, crossing his arms expectantly.

"No!" Allura gave him a shocked look, but Coran's stony face did not change.

"Then why were you so quick to discriminate and antagonize him when you found out he was part Galra?"

Allura narrowed her eyes, furious, "Are you saying that you believe I hate Keith because he's Galra? Are you still caught up in that? I have gotten over that and forgiven him already-"

"But why did you ever have to forgive him in the first place?" Coran asked softly, quieting Allura with a hand. "The boy cannot control who his parents are. It is not a crime that he is part Galra. He has no traits of Galra except for the scar on his face."

Allura snapped, "He is part Galra! Coran, the Galra destroyed-"

"Altea, yes, I am aware. However, he does not have any mannerisms of the Galra. Nor was he raised by the Galra. By all means, he is merely a human with a bit of foreign blood in his body."

"Yes, and I have looked past the Galra in him-"

Coran spoke a bit louder so he could speak over her. "He has done nothing wrong to you. In fact, he could very well discriminate against you for having had feelings for a Galra."

Allura's eyes hardened. "Don't you dare bring up-"

"But he doesn't. For the very thing you looked down upon him for, he could have done the same to you. However, your feelings and allegations were controllable, whereas his were not."

Coran watched the emotions flicker across Allura's face with a bit of satisfaction. His words were getting to her after all.

Allura's anger disapitated and all that was left was a feeling of shame. She heaved a great sigh. "I know."

"Even now, Princess," Coran said quietly. He hated to do this, but he needed to in order for her to understand. "You dislike him more than the others."

"What-" Allura's surprised eyes shot up to his and Coran motioned for her to be quiet.

"You do not notice it, but you treat the child coldly. You do not care as much for his well-being as you should."

"I don't mean to!"

"I understand. However, you need to be more aware of how you treat him. You have created a rift between you two, and in doing so, you have distanced yourself from the Paladins."

"What?" Allura whispered disbelievingly.

"Have you noticed that only Lance is quick to let you join in on their activities? It is because he harbors feelings for you. Pidge does not like you very much either, as she has likely not forgotten your arrogant attributes you displayed openly before. Shiro does respect you, but he holds no other feelings for you. Hunk does not care either way; he might be a bit reluctant of you. And Keith… the boy is… bitter around you. He is under the impression you still only tolerate him."

" _If I had to lose Blue to anyone… it would be you," Lance said comfortingly to Allura as he watched her gaze longingly at Blue._

" _Oh, the Princess of what? We're the only ones out here and she's no Princess of ours!" Pidge snapped, scowling at her handcuffed hands._

" _I understand how you feel, but you have to step away for awhile. It's what's best for everyone." Shiro gave her a placating hand squeeze and turned back to the Paladins._

" _Allura doesn't hate you. You just need to give her time to accept the fact that you're Galra, the race that destroyed all her people... Yeah, she might hate you a little bit," Hunk said to Keith a bit sheepishly after failing to comfort him. Unknown to them, they were being monitored by the Castle._

 _Allura scathingly snarled, "You… have a lot of nerve questioning someone's leadership! Seeing how you left us!"_

 _Keith's eyes widened before he ground his teeth and easily retorted back just as sharply, "As I recall… you were the one that got us all cozied up to Lotor!"_

"I never meant to…" Allura said, ashamed.

"However," Coran said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "you can fix this. Stop acting as if you are above them because you are Altean and they are human."

"I don't think I am above them!"

"Your highness, you reject Lance for that very reason. You believe that he is not good enough because he is human. That is why you preferred Lotor-"

"Do not speak his name!" Allura felt the old wounds flare up again and remind her of the anguish that he had caused her.

"Even though he is Galra. I am not saying that you should court Lance now. He deserves better than your treatment. However, you could at least have the courage to let him down honorably." Coran gave her a pointed look.

Allura laughed. "Coran, he is just joking-"

"I assure you, your highness, he is not."

The others might believe Lance was not seriously trying to woo the Princess, but Coran knew better. After all, he was young once, and he knew Lance's actions were his way of trying to get the Princess to smile and enjoy his presence enough to accept his affections.

"I… didn't know," Allura muttered, remembering all of the times she had mocked Lance and even rubbed her relationship in his face… the guilt came crashing down on her full force.

" _Are you sure you don't need a third… wheel? For help?" Lance weakly asked._

 _Allura and Lotor ignored him and turned away, smiling and looking at each other lovingly even as all they were doing was pulling up the schematics of the ship in front of them._

 _Lance's entire body seemed to collapse in on himself and he sadly walked away, heart in his stomach._

" _Can't a man sulk in peace? I'm pathetic...I used to make fun of people who would get their hearts broken. Heck! I was the one breaking hearts! I guess I never knew what it meant to really like someone. The way I like Allura. Allura's not like any other girl I ever met before….probably because she's an alien, but still. She's smart, courageous, and makes me want to be a better person. That is so weird to say. And I can't tell her how I feel! She wouldn't take me seriously anyway! I don't have anything to offer! I'm just a boy from Cuba not a space prince like Lotor," Lance said solemnly to the mice curled up on his lap, absentmindedly petting one on the back. Later, they relayed the boy's words to the princess._

"Oh my god," Allura said in horror.

Coran smiled as he saw the realization hit her like a semi truck.

"I'll leave you alone with your thoughts, Princess," he said, getting up to leave. "And I shall call Prince Lotor for you."

"Thank you, Coran," Allura said not only for making the call for her but also for everything he had told her. Her mind was swirling with all of the realizations he had dumped onto her. She never realized. She never knew. She made a vow to herself to improve her treatment of not only Keith but also the other Paladins.


	9. Chapter 9: Christmas Special

**H-heeeyy guys! Haha... this is totally not a two week late Christmas special, ahaha, no way! Okay so I went out of town for the entirety of Winter Break, and Silver and I hadn't discussed what we were going to do for a Christmas and New Year special so... we ended up writing it towards the end of break when I got back and finished it now. We are currently working on the New Year's special so... that's coming. Sorry about that!**

 **Ah, and a quick message from Silver: Ahem, I actually wrote it all... With input from you. Like most of the story.**

 **Rainbow: Well, at this point I feel like I've written around half.**

 **Also a little quick warning: FEELS AHEAD! PREPARE THYSELF**

 **Anyway! Yeah, sorry, but its fine! We got the chapter out, that's what matters, right? Yeah, that's not an excuse. Anyway, I'm going to stop blabbering so you can read.**

 **Happy Late Holidays!**

 **Enjoy~**

* * *

After many long, labor-intensive hours, Pidge finally straightened from her hunched form. Wincing from the loud, unnatural cracks that originated from her spine, she rolled her shoulders to loosen them from their tense positions. She wiped away the beads of sweat forming on her brow and smiled triumphantly at her creation.

"Perfect," she whispered to herself. "Now time to set the rest of the plan in motion."

* * *

Sneaking out of Raven's room silently, Pidge made her way over to Beast Boy's room where she knew Lance would be. She opened the door and snuck in, carefully maneuvering around the stray articles of clothing and pizza boxes.

She was lucky she was already used to stepping around her stray bolts and metal parts, otherwise she probably would have made a ruckus loud enough to alert everyone in the Tower. She reached the bunk bed and started to climb it.

Beast Boy wasn't in the bottom bed, but she figured he was probably somewhere else in the Tower with Cyborg or something. She peered over the frame of the top bunk, preparing to scare Lance out of his sleep, only to find an empty bed with no Lance. She frowned, and scampered out of the room as quickly and silently as she had entered.

Lance was probably in the kitchen with Hunk so Pidge started to make her way over there... only to find the kitchen empty as well. A quick peek into the training room also showed that Keith was missing. She finally entered Cyborg's room, making no effort to be quiet this time since she figured neither occupants were probably in there. And she was right. Keith, Hunk, Lance, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were missing. Pidge scowled as her plan was interrupted by their unexpected absences.

What could those five be doing?

* * *

"Isn't this fun, Keith?" Lance shouted gleefully as he skated circles around a very stiff, wobbling Keith. Keith was currently wearing a tinsel scarf and had Christmas lights braided into his hair, courtesy of Lance. His normal jacket and black shirt was replaced with an oversized red, ugly sweater with the Grinch's face plastered all over it.

"No," Keith muttered sourly. "How are you moving so easily?" Keith shifted his weight slightly and nearly toppled over onto his face as his center of gravity changed.

"We got plenty of practice when we did the show on ice!" Lance said a bit bitterly. He was still sulky about how Keith was exempted from the Voltron on Ice gig that everyone else had to go through.

Keith attempted to skate forward, but quickly found that skating was very different from any other form of movement and fell onto the ice. Getting up was no easier than moving as Keith found his hands constantly slipping on the cold substance. Managing to slowly rise to his feet, Keith opted to just not move anymore and stood on the ice, stick straight.

Lance snickered and fist pumped silently as he finally found one of Keith's weaknesses.

Hunk, taking pity on Keith, grabbed his arm and led him over to the wall where there were railings Keith could grab onto.

Cyborg opted to sit this one out as cold did not mix well with his robotic parts. He and Beast Boy decided to chill outside the rink with hot chocolates in hand, watching in amusement as Lance taunted Keith while skating around him gracefully and Keith growling in frustration, but being unable to move to retaliate.

* * *

"Wasn't that fun, Mullet?" Lance asked mockingly as he stretched, candy cane in hand. Keith glared as he sucked on his own candy cane sulkingly.

"Oh, there's Santa!" Cyborg exclaimed, pointing at the a man dressed up as the famous sat in a large throne. Children were lined up, one after the other with their parents, eagerly waiting their turn to sit in the man's lap.

"Keith," Lance sang, a new gleam in his eye. Keith gave Lance a suspicious look. He crossed his arms and frowned as he awaited for Lance's _brilliant_ idea to be said. "I think you should go sit in Santa's lap!"

"No," Keith said flatly. "I refuse."

"Come on, Mullet," Lance wheedled. "You've been robbed of the Christmas experience your whole childhood!"

"Yeah, dude," Beast Boy agreed, "everyone has to sit on Santa's lap at least once in their life!"

"No," Keith said firmly, scowling. And that was that.

* * *

"So, my boy," Santa said, not looking weirded out at all, as if having a grown man in his lap was a normal occurrence, "what do _you_ want for Christmas?"

Keith, on the other hand, looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there as he avoided all the gazes of the whispering parents and his laughing friends. "Nothing."

Santa laughed loudly, startling Keith and making him glower at Santa. "Now, you can't want nothing, my boy. What's your name?" Santa peered at him closely over his wire-rimmed glasses.

"... Keith," he answered reluctantly.

"Ah, Keith. Have you been a good boy this year?" Santa asked jovially, smiling widely at him.

Lance choked on his spit as he nearly fell to the ground, vibrating with laughter. Hunk smiled, trying to stop his giggles from escaping. Cyborg and Beast Boy were already far gone as they rolled on the ground shamelessly, hitting the ground with their fists.

Somehow managing to somewhat compose himself in his breathless laughter, Lance straightened and pulled out his orange cell phone substitute he had been using in space.

Beast Boy scampered up to his shoulder as a flying squirrel, and Cyborg huddled behind him, snickering as Keith came into frame, all scowls and crossed arms. Hunk merely smiled apologetically and sent Keith a thumbs up for motivation.

"O-okay, Keith," Lance gasped, lining up the photo. "You ready?"

"Don't you dare, Lance," Keith hissed, wanting nothing more than to hop off the old man's lap.

"One!"

"I swear if you take that picture!"

"Two!"

"Say candy canes~" the imposter Santa sang in his ear, smiling the same smile he had been presenting for the past who knows how many hours.

Keith stiffened, growing even more uncomfortable when the man roped him in place with a hand on his hip. The snap of the camera was what served as his ticket to freedom.

Keith stormed off, ignoring the man's cheerful call of Merry Christmas and stomping straight by Lance, Cyborg, and Beast Boy, still cackling in unrestrained laughter at the picture of a stiff, scowling Keith perched with crossed arms and hunched shoulders on Santa's lap. Hunk gave him a sympathetic pat on the back as he passed.

Oh, Lance was going to frame this picture for sure.

* * *

When the boys got back, they were greeted with a very annoyed Pidge. She slowly approached the now silent boys, glowering at them with all the power her 4'9" stature could emit. She waved her bayard in their faces. "Where have- Keith, what the quiznak are you wearing?" Pidge's rage quickly turned to astonishment as she took in the very festive-looking emo.

Keith closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ah, Pidge!" Lance said, in an attempt for Pidge to put away her bayard. "Do you want to see Keith on Santa's lap?" He took out his phone and waved it in her face. Keith's eyes shot open and he snarled at Lance. In seconds, the phone was snatched and Pidge was looking through his photo album. "How do you know my password?" Lance groaned, not even surprised.

"Your passwords are very simplistic," Pidge answered. When she saw the photo of Keith, she grinned and whipped out a flash drive from her pocket. Keith's eyes narrowed upon the sight of it.

"Pidge," he said warningly, reaching for the small piece of technology.

Pidge ignored him and plugged the flash drive into the phone. Keith made a grabbing motion for the phone, but Pidge leaped nimbly out of the way and behind a laughing Lance. She waited for a few seconds and the phone let out a 'ding' to signal that the download process was done. Keeping eye contact with Keith the entire time, she slowly removed the memory storing device and shoved in her pockets before Keith could steal it from her.

Pidge handed the phone back to Lance and held a hand up before Keith could unleash his fury. Her smirk fell off her face and she said seriously, "I need you guys to help me."

Lance sobered, and Keith straightened, no longer angry. "What is it, Pidge?" Lance asked, concern making his voice louder than normal.

"We have a limited time frame and we need this done quickly." Pidge rubbed her face tiredly, looking scarily like Shiro. "We would have been fine had you not gone on your Christmas adventure," she griped.

"Is it something dangerous?" Lance asked, frowning as his concern grew.

"If you get caught, yeah," Pidge said casually.

"R-really?" Hunk stuttered, looking fearful.

"Yeah. Shiro'll kill you." Pidge grinned at the surprised looks.

"Sh-Shiro?" Keith asked, his eyes wide as images of fighting the Black Paladin raced through his mind.

Realizing this, Pidge immediately put those worries to rest. "Yeah, I'd get mad too if I found you guys looking through my personal things," Pidge said.

"Wait, wait, wait," Lance said, holding his hands up in a plea for her to slow down and explain things to them. "Why are we going through Shiro's things?"

"For his Christmas present, of course," Pidge said, as if it was obvious.

"What?" The four boys chorused. They all looked so hopelessly lost that Pidge rolled her eyes at their slowness.

"Look, I don't have time to explain everything to you. Just do as I say," Pidge ordered impatiently. "You guys are the only ones that haven't done your part."

"What _is_ our part?" Cyborg asked skeptically.

Pidge smirked. "All you have to do is find a photo."

* * *

"Pidge, are you sure Shiro will be okay with us looking through his stuff?" Hunk asked through an earpiece Pidge had given him. They couldn't risk using the helmet comms because Shiro would hear them. His eyes darted nervously around the hallway as he watched for any sign that Shiro was coming.

Hunk was stationed outside the door of Shiro's room, acting as a lookout for Shiro while Keith and Lance searched Shiro's room. Cyborg and Beast Boy were sent to search other rooms for any other related objects they could find—the more, the better.

"I'm sure he'll forgive us when he sees his present," Pidge answered tiredly. It was the sixth time Hunk had asked this and she was tired of answering the same thing over and over again.

"What if it doesn't work?" Hunk asked nervously.

"It will work," Pidge said confidently. "I'm sure of it. Paired with Raven's magic and the Balmera crystals, this machine has enough power to do virtually anything."

"Oh…" Hunk said, going quiet.

"You probably won't have to worry about Shiro coming," Pidge mentioned, hearing his quick breathing and correctly assuming that he was anxious.

"Really?" Hunk asked hopefully, seeming to relax slightly. He heard Pidge type something and she made an affirmative noise.

"Yeah, Starfire and Coran are talking up a storm and when they're not talking, Robin's asking about leadership tips."

"Oh, that's good…"

"I found it!" Lance yelled, bursting through the door, photo in hand. His clothes were rumpled and his hair a tangled mess. He looked like a mess. As did Keith. They were also breathing surprisingly heavily for merely searching for a photo.

"Did you guys do something you shouldn't have?" Pidge asked through Lance's earpiece.

"What?" Lance asked, sounding kind of breathless. He then reddened upon realizing the implications of her words. "No!"

"Mmhmm," Pidge hummed, unconvinced. "I'm sure."

"How can you even see us?" Keith asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.

"Cameras."

"We didn't do anything, Pidge!" Lance yelled, getting redder. Keith was oblivious to the innuendos Pidge was harassing Lance with and merely tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the two to finish their argument.

"Right. Just bring me the photo," Pidge said. Lance scowled—he could _hear_ the grin on her face.

"Are you sure this will work?" Lance asked dubiously, peering at the photo.

"Why is everyone questioning me today?" Pidge asked exasperatedly, her patience already running thin. "Just bring me the quiznaking photo!"

"Okay, okay!" Lance said, tucking the photo away in his pocket and starting to run to her and Raven's room. "I'm coming!"

"Cyborg and Beast Boy are already here so hurry it up," Pidge urged impatiently, drumming her fingers on what Lance assumed to be a desk impatiently.

Lance, Keith, and Hunk reached Raven's room, and, before they could knock, Pidge opened to door, grabbed them by their collars, and yanked them inside. The room was completely dark, only illuminated by five candles placed at the points of a star drawn in chalk on the floor. Raven was floating in the middle, appearing to be meditating, while Beast Boy and Cyborg were seated on a mattress on the floor. A large machine was in the middle of the star, glowing blue and seemingly pulsating with energy.

"Now that everyone but the distraction team and Shiro are here… let's get started!" Pidge grinned, her eyes looking wild in the light of the candles.

* * *

Shiro groaned as Pidge pulled on his human arm. "Shiro! Shiro!" She chanted, tugging him up. Shiro blearily opened his eyes and smiled as he was met the sight of a hyperactive Pidge on his mattress.

"Good morning to you too, Pidge," Shiro said in amusement. He noticed everyone else also surrounding his mattress and raised an eyebrow. "What's going on here?"

"It's Christmas, Shiro!" Pidge said cheerily. "And your present is in the lounge so get up!"

Shiro sighed in faux exasperation and got up. "Alright," he said in defeat, getting up. "What is it? A bomb?"

"Do you really think I'd give you a bomb for Christmas?" Pidge asked innocently, batting her eyelashes at him.

Keith's following cough sounded suspiciously like "you would".

Pidge stuck her tongue out at him. "Shut up, Keith, I'm still mad at you for locking me out of my own room."

Shiro chuckled, ruffling her hair. "Well, I wouldn't put it past you."

Pidge feigned a pout, but couldn't smother the grin on her face. "You'll like it much better than a bomb," Pidge promised mischievously. "I guarantee that."

Before Shiro could inquire what she meant, Lance stepped forward with a strip of cloth in his hand and a large grin plastered on his face.

"You're blindfolding me?" Shiro asked, half incredulous and half unsurprised.

"It's a surprise, after all," Pidge sang, bouncing on her heels. Keith then stepped forward with another strip of cloth in his hands. "What's that for?"

"It's _your_ blindfold!" Lance exclaimed, finishing tying Shiro's around his face. Keith copied his motions on Pidge, who still seemed confused.

"Wait… guys, what's going on here?" Pidge asked in alarm; this wasn't part of their plan!

"Pidge, your Christmas gift is a surprise too!" Hunk said, chuckling at Pidge's very obvious bewilderment.

Bewildered at having the tables turned on her, Pidge kept silent.

Letting himself be dragged out, Shiro waited in the hallway patiently with a still perplexed Pidge as the other Paladins shuffled things around while giggling to themselves.

They finally returned after a few moments and led him to the lounge. They stopped him once they got there, but did nothing more.

Figuring they would want him to play along, he said playfully, "Why, I wonder what the present could be."

"More like who," he heard Lance mutter. He heard him grunt painfully a moment later and guessed that Keith, most likely, had elbowed him.

He heard muffled giggles around him and he briefly wondered if they were playing a joke on him and Lance was going to appear dressed in some scandalous outfit. He felt someone remove the cloth from his face, but before he could actually see anything, a pair of hands covered his eyes. From the brief glimpse he got of them, they definitely weren't Lance's hands as he had suspected.

"Guess who," a familiar voice whispered in his ear. Shiro froze, his breath becoming short and choppy. A familiar ache fired up in his chest, and a lump formed in his throat. He felt a sting in his eyes as tears welled up as he smiled.

"Oh my god..." he breathed.

"'God' would be incorrect!" The voice said, taking his hands away and revealing a familiar, smiling bespectacled face in front of him. "The correct answer is-"

"Adam," Shiro said, engulfing the man in a hug. He squeezed him tightly, taking great care not to use his Galra hand.

" _Matt_!" He distantly heard Pidge squeal as he buried his face in Adam's shoulder. He assumed that while they were bringing Adam over for him, the Paladins had brought Matt over as well for Pidge.

"I missed you, Takashi," Adam said, squeezing his boyfriend back just as tightly. "I'm sorry for what I said before you left. I-"

"No, I understand," Shiro said, smiling sadly. "I'm sorry for choosing the mission over you. If I could turn back time… I would have chosen you." Burying all dark thoughts about the Galra and his arm, he lost himself in Adam's soothing presence. He closed his eyes and smiled as the familiar scent of chestnut and sandalwood wrapped around him.

"I thought you were dead," Adam whispered hoarsely. "I was-"

"Shh," Shiro shushed, feeling guilty for paining Adam so much, "I'm alive and well." _Mostly_ Shiro added mentally.

"I've missed you," Adam repeated again, sniffling just the slightest. Shiro felt his shirt become damper as Adam shook in his arms. "Thank god I was able to see you again."

Shiro said nothing and just pulled back slightly to see Adams face. He drew him in for a sweet, short kiss on the lips. Wolf whistles and cheers came from all corners of the room, but here in Adam's arms again, Shiro couldn't find it in himself to feel embarrassed at the moment. He ended the short kiss and rested his head on Adam's shoulder, still wrapped in his arms.

He felt a strong hand pat his back. "Merry Christmas, Shiro," he heard Coran say and peaked open an eye for just a second to catch the man's warm smile. Allura stood behind him with her own smile.

"So I take it you like your gift?" Pidge asked cheekily, her arm wrapped around Matt's waist and tears in her eyes.

Shiro didn't respond, looking so relaxed and calm he almost looked to be asleep.

Pidge decided to poke at him and tease, "Heh, are you aWAAAKE!" Pidge shrieked as she was picked up and squeezed.

Shiro let go of Adam, somewhat reluctantly, to grab Pidge into a surprise hug, dragging the other Paladins and Titans into it. "You guys are the best."

"Well, it was mostly Pidge," Lance admitted. "She made the machine that we used and came up with the plan…"

"And they did everything else," Pidge said, nudging Lance and smiling at Shiro's obvious joy.

"Thank you all," Shiro repeated, feeling lighter than he had in a long time. "Even if he's only here for Christmas, thank you for letting me see him again."

Adam placed a hand on Shiro's shoulder, squeezing it.

"Well… no worries about that!" Lance said happily.

Shiro froze. "What do you mean, Lance?" He let go of the Paladins, ending their impromptu hug.

Lance started sweating as Shiro's stare bore into him. "Well uh… so since we brought Matt here with Pidge's photo… oh sorry by the way, Pidge, that's ruined too… uh… we kind of broke the machine…"

"I mean it doesn't matter since there wasn't a way we could reverse the effects anyway without the same machine on the other side," Pidge said with a shrug.

"Pidge, you just stranded two more people in an alternate universe!" Shiro groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

"Ahaha… whoops?"

Shiro let out a loud sigh, keeping his face covered. Then, out of nowhere, his breathing pattern changed and became irregular as he began shaking.

Worried that he was crying, Keith approached him. "Are you okay, Shiro?" Keith asked in concern.

Unable to help himself, Shiro suddenly burst out into loud, uncontrollable laughter. Surprised and kind of creeped out, the Paladins stared at him as if he had grown another head.

Shiro wiped away a tear and kissed Adam on the cheek who was watching this all occur with bemusement. He kissed his children on the forehead and smiled brightly at them. "You guys… Thank you for putting this much effort into my gift."

"Even if we kind of stranded two people in an alternate universe?" Lance asked.

"And went through your stuff?" Pidge added, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"Yes," Shiro responded. "This is no doubt about it… this is the best Christmas ever."

* * *

 **Quick note before I go, this is kind of an IMPORTANT NOTE SO PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ:**

 **I've been getting a lot of reviews asking about ships. I shall now answer thy desperate questions and requests. Pretty much everything is platonic. I, personally, am a fan of Klance, and though we touch upon their relationship, it's still strictly platonic. The same goes for all ships in here. Except for maybe Adam and Shiro... because both Silver and I think they're adorable and they technically are canon already.**

 **We don't intend to have ships in this (besides Adam and Shiro, as I mentioned), whether it be between the Titans and Paladins or just between the Titans and between the Paladins. So, to address this... everything is pretty much platonic.**

 **Sorry to disappoint those who were wishing for something else but... platonic stories are kind of more desirable sometimes.**

 **Thanks for taking the time to read this note and story. Please leave a review, it's greatly appreciated! Until next time, Piggies~**


	10. Chapter 10: New Years Special

**Disclaimer from Silver: Don't drink, kids. Do not try this at home.**

* * *

The night of New Years Eve, the four out of five Paladins walked into the kitchen and were met with a surprising sight. Pidge was sitting at the table surrounded by numerous bottles of liquor of various shapes and sizes. She sat there with a giant milk jug in one hand filled to the brim with what appeared to be beer.

Before anyone could call out to her, Pidge lifted the milk jug to her mouth and started chugging. Once it was completely void of all liquid, she let it leave her lips. Wiping her mouth, she set the jug down next to her and threw it behind her in the general direction of the trash can. She missed, and the jug hit Lance, who let out a loud "ow" of complaint.

Upon hearing Lance's voice, she froze and turned around slowly to meet the horrified gazes of the Paladins. She smiled innocently at them. "Hey, guys!"

"P-P-Pidge…" Hunk stuttered, staring at her in shock. "Was that… beer?"

Pidge looked at them and then back at the jug, contemplating whether or not to tell them the truth. "Uh… yeah," she admitted, scratching her head.

"Wh-why are you drinking?" Lance sputtered, pointing an accusing finger at her. "You're like three!"

"First of all, I'm 16. Second of all, I've _been_ drinking since three," Pidge retorted, pulling out another gallon jug from seemingly nowhere.

Lance gaped. " _Matt_! Say something!"

Pidge beat him to a response. "Matt was the one who originally gave me my first drink."

"In my defense," Matt sputtered quickly, completely aware of the sudden murderous glare Shiro sent his way, "I thought it was grape juice!"

"That's not an excuse," Shiro sighed exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of his nose. Adam gave him a few pats on the shoulder in support.

"There, there."

Pidge shrugged, lifting the half empty jug to her lips. "Too late now."

"How are you still so smart then?" Lance grumbled, crossing his arms. "I thought alcohol was bad for your brain or something."

"And why didn't anybody stop you?" Keith questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Because I didn't tell anyone I was drinking," Pidge responded, taking a long swig of the jug.

"Wouldn't a drunk three year-old stumbling around be a dead indicator of alcohol consumption?" Adam questioned, looking stunned at Pidge's continuous consumption of the frothy beverage.

"I don't get drunk," Pidge informed them smugly. "Never have, never will."

"It's true," Matt sighed, shaking his head incredulously. "I've never seen Pidge anything less than sober."

"Does that just mean she's _always_ drunk?" Beast Boy wondered aloud.

"No," Raven answered with a flat expression, looking at Beast Boy blankly.

"But-"

"It does not."

"Well, since Pidge is already drinking…" Lance trailed off, a grin slowly forming on his face. "Does that mean _we_ can as well?" He shuffled closer to the Black Paladin, smiling hopefully.

Shiro glanced at him, ignoring the way Lance kept creeping closer. He let out a long drawn out sigh. "No, Lance. You're under age."

The Blue Paladin immediately slumped, pouting. "But Shiroooo!" he whined, clutching onto the man's Galran arm.

"No!" Shiro raised his arm, giving it a little shake in a futile attempt to dislodge the Cuban. He turned to Adam in a silent plea for help. His fiancée simply raised his hands in surrender.

"Don't bring me into this."

"What if we made drinks with no alcohol?" Hunk suggested, making Lance pause in his tugging to look over with everyone else in the room. "You know, like… a drink substitute? It _is_ the night of New Year's Eve, after all."

"I'll get the Nunvill!" Coran proclaimed, pointing to the sky and bounding out of the lounge.

"Please don't!" Lance called, though too late as Coran had already left. "And he's gone."

Keith furrowed his eyebrows over crossed arms. "Nunvill?"

"The Altean drink that tastes like hot dog water and feet," Lance deadpanned. "Remember?"

"Wha - Oh. Nevermind." Keith shivered while Lance nodded knowingly.

"Yes, you do remember."

"Pidge!" Shiro chided as he witnessed Pidge finish her second gallon and take out another.

Pidge froze. "What?" She asked defensively, clutching the jug to her possessively.

"Quit drinking." Shiro planted his hands on his hips and fixed her with a pointed glare.

Pidge frowned at him, pouting. "But…" She trailed off as an idea suddenly hit her. She smirked mischievously. "Hey, Shiro," Pidge sang, waving her jug in the air.

Shiro gave her a suspicious look. "What is it, Pidge?"

"Come here!" Pidge demanded, waving him over, "I have to tell you something!" Shiro still looked suspicious but slowly made his way over there.

"Wh-MMPH!" Shiro's words were cut off as Pidge forced Shiro's mouth open and tipped the beer in, forcing him to swallow it to avoid spitting it out all over Pidge.

"Takashi!" Adam yelled in alarm. "Why would you do that? Do you have any idea what Takashi is like when he's drunk?" He angrily asked Pidge, grabbing the suddenly limp Shiro by the shoulders to prevent him from falling on the ground.

Pidge suddenly looked guilty, but she pursed her lips stubbornly. "How was I supposed to know that just a sip of beer would cause him to get drunk?"

Adam groaned, closing his eyes in annoyance. "Do you know what you've just done?"

"Wait…" Lance smirked as he looked around deviously. "If Shiro isn't here to stop us… then we can drink!"

"Yeah!" Pidge cried, lifting her jug in the air and sending some of the fizzy liquid spilling to the ground, all previous feelings of guilt evaporating with the new freedom.

"Come on, you guys," Hunk sighed. "Shiro wouldn't want us to."

"But Shiro's not here~" Lance sang.

"At least let me make the alcohol free drinks?"

Lance groaned. "Fine! Fine! We'll go alcohol free…"

* * *

"Oi! Lance! You… you suck!" Keith slurred, sloppily throwing a half empty shot glass and sending the liquid pooling on the kitchen floor. He proceeded to giggle to himself with half lidded eyes, flushed cheeks, and a lazy grin.

Cyborg reached out over the kitchen counter and snagged Keith by the back of his jacket before he could slip off the stool. "Alright, up you go." Gripping him by the shoulders, he positioned him on the stool in a way that allowed the Red Paladin to slump forward onto the table instead of the floor.

"Sh' up, Mullet! Yer hair is… stu'peh…" Lance retorted in an equally slurred tone from his sprawled position on the couch.

Hunk sighed, setting down the glass he had been cleaning. "I just don't get it," he said with furrowed brows. "I made a concoction of water and lime but… somehow they're all drunk!" He gestured exasperatedly to Keith and Lance.

"Youuu… butt… head?" Keith said sloppily, unfocused eyes staring ahead and brows furrowing as he struggled to come up with an insult. Lance didn't bother to respond, looking at him with an equally confused expression. They made eye contact. Keith chortled and then broke into breathless laughter, slamming his fist down on the table and sending another half filled glass onto the floor.

"Oh," Pidge said from her same position on the counter. She emptied the last of her current jug and picked up yet another one. "The alcohol was courtesy of me. I slipped it in when you weren't looking." She grinned. "Can't have a New Year without actual drinks!"

"Pidge!" Hunk groaned. "I wanted to _avoid_ this!"

Pidge shrugged. "It's more fun this way."

"For you, maybe," Matt said with a knowing grin, his own glass of alcohol in his hand. He peered over at Adam over the rim of his cup, who was situated next to a now even more drunk Shiro, listening to the Paladin rant about who knows what.

"You're right. It is fun for me."

"Hunk."

Hunk sighed, turning the the Black Paladin seated a few stools away from Keith. He clutched a now empty glass in his prosthetic hand, frowning in a mix of concentration and frustration. Adam sat next to him, head in his hands, letting out a long sigh.

"Shiro, I really think you've had en-" Hunk began placatingly, sliding over.

"I nee'... ano'er!" Shiro said angrily, slamming his fist down. "S'ress is… too high…"

Hunk sighed again, pouring him another drink even with the new found knowledge of its alcoholic properties. Shiro immediately chugged it, a trickle of his drink sliding down his chin.

He slammed the glass down with a hiccup, wiping a messy hand over his chin to flick away the liquid. "I jus' can't do it, Adam…" Shiro groaned, sliding a hand into his white tuft of hair and leaning the whole weight of his head onto his arm, not stopping it when it slipped and his chin ended up resting on the table. "There's Pidge wit' her drink'n probl'm-" _hiccup_ "-Keef can't be sociiiiial an' I thin' he's in an emo phase… Lanz's al'ays flir'ing an' mess'n wit' Keef…" Shiro groaned again, shifting so his forehead rested against the table instead of his chin. "Hunk's fine… he 's th' good kid…"

Hunk blushed as he heard that, rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

Adam rubbed circles on Shiro's back, sighing as the Black Paladin lifted his face from the table and continued on. "I thin' Black's laugh'n at me…" he whined. His head fell back onto the table as he raised a sloppy hand in the air. "Hunk… ano'er glass…"

The Yellow Paladin exchanged a look with Cyborg, glancing at his leader hesitantly as he passed over the next drink.

* * *

"I bet… that I can bea' you, Keef!" Lance cried out with a grin, swaying and stumbling his way over to flop chest first onto the stool beside the Red Paladin. "Teeeeeen millio' thhhousan' _GAC_!" He pulled himself into a sitting position, practically climbing the stool and spilling the last of his drink onto the ground due to carelessly tipping it in his struggles.

" _Huh_!?" Keith spat angrily, head shooting up as he glared unfocused down at Lance sloppily making his way onto the stool. "You… can neverrr bea'... me!" Keith declared, thrusting a hand into the air and making him nearly fall off the stool again. "I… am th' Red Paladiiiinnn… you… can neverrr hope… to bea' me!"

"I can bea' you! I swear on… my cat!"

"You can't have a cat!" Keith shot back. "Yer face is too shiny!" He chuckled obnoxiously.

"Well yer face is stupeh'!" Lance fired back.

"HUH!?" Keith cried in drunken outrage, swing a fist and missing by a mile. The momentum carried him off the stool and onto the ground, groaning as Lance gave an equally drunken laugh, hiccuping in between breaths. "Yeh wanna fight!?" Keith growled from the ground, getting messily to his feet and tipping backwards almost immediately. "Fight me! I can… bea' you! An' wipe that stupeh' face off yer grin!"

"I can bea' _you_!" Lance declared again, standing up and swaying for a moment before stumbling forward in a way that he had to brace himself on Keith's shoulders. Both Paladins fell to the ground, crying out bets that they could beat the other.

"What are they even talking about?" Matt questioned from afar, wondering if he should go stop them as Keith kept screaming angry remarks, only to chuckle at himself a second later. Luckily no fists were swung during their shouting match.

Pidge shrugged. "No clue. It's fun to watch though."

"Is that a camera?" Matt asked with an amused grin.

"Yes. This is data gathering."

"For what?"

"Blackmail." She peered over her camera at the two boys still yelling at each other. Suddenly, a grin on her face and an idea in her head bloomed. "Hey! Instead of making a mess... why don't you just settle this with a drink off?" she called, grinning as both boys froze to look at her.

"He can't drink more th'n me!" Keith said, pushing himself back up onto the stool. "No one can drink more th'n me!"

"Hunk! We need glasses… an' drinks…" Lance called, struggling onto his seat.

"You guys really shouldn't drink anymore." Hunk sighed as he came over.

"Are you sayin' 'm drunk!?" Keith hissed.

Cyborg let out a low whistle from his spot in front of Shiro. "Man, you're _super_ drunk," he said.

"'M not drunk!"

"Sure, man, whatever you say," Cyborg said, handing over yet another drink to Shiro who downed it within seconds, much to Adam's growing displeasure. Adam eyed the half-full drink in Shiro's hand, tempted to swat it, but refrained from doing so. Shiro was responsible to watch himself, right?

"I need t' prove to Mullet… I can drink more!" Lance said with the fiery flames of determination burning in his unfocused eyes. "I can do it!"

"I don't know… haven't you guys had enough?" Hunk asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Aw, come on, Hunk!" Pidge cried out in exasperation, throwing her hands up. "It was getting good!"

"Pidge, do you see them?" Hunk asked incredulously. "It's only going to get worse!"

"That's the _point_!"

"Aren't those two going to hurt themselves?" Raven asked, glancing over from her seat on the couch, a mug of herbal tea cupped in her hands, steam coiling lazily out the top.

"Eh. They'll be fine! It's not like they can do much, especially compared to what they do to each other in training," Pidge said with a shrug, zooming in on her camera.

Hunk sighed, gesturing to Cyborg to slide over the half empty pitcher of alcohol. He poured two glasses and handed them over, almost immediately regretting his decision.

Lance grinned cockily, lifting his glass in preparation. "You ready t' be taken down, Keef?"

Keith grunted in response, lifting his glass to his lips and tipping his head back, gulping down the alcohol with scrunched up eyes. Lance fumbled with his, thrown off guard when his opponent started without warning. He began frantically chugging the drink—Keith's was already half finished.

The Red Paladin slammed his cup down first, demanding another one and practically inhaling it as Lance got his next as well.

"You see, Adam!?" Shiro slurred exasperatedly, gesturing to Lance and Keith who had gotten even now, somehow already on their third drink. "This 's bad…" He let his head fall back onto the table facing the two Paladins downing their multitude of drinks. "I failed, Adam, I failed!" he wailed. "They're all druuunk!"

Adam placed his face in his hands, sighing for what felt like the millionth time. " _You're_ drunk, Takashi."

Ignoring him, Shiro growled. "Cibor', I nee' ano'er!"

Cyborg sighed. "Your fourteenth drink, coming up!" he said sarcastically, pouring another glass.

* * *

"You quittn' yet?" Lance slurred, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and slamming his fourth cup down.

Keith groaned, slamming his down. He furrowed his brows while he stared at the table, struggling to focus his eyes. "No…"

Hunk hesitantly slid over the fifth drink, sighing as both Paladins simultaneously lifted it to their mouths and practically poured the drinks down their throats.

Pidge giggled to herself as she watched them from afar, sipping more bourbon from her massive jug. "Ah, I can't wait until I show them this tomorrow," she said gleefully to herself. She would have rubbed her hands together, but one hand was holding her jug and she didn't want to risk any spillage of the precious alcohol.

"Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiitttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Lance said, giggling, his unsteady hand spilling more beer on the counter. "Yer nem souunds like teeeeeettttthhhhhhh, hehehehe."

"Well yer name sunds like…" Keith furrowed his brows, thinking very deeply to himself with the little focus he had remaining. "Lance!"

"I am Lance!" Lance agreed, nodding to himself very proudly. He tilted his head. That didn't sound quite right to him. "Lance I am!" He accepted the next drink and chugged it with his limited motor skills, dribble of alcohol flowing down his chin. He then pointed at Keith with a sloppy grin and a hiccup. "And yuer Teeth!"

Hunk watched them closely and discreetly switched their beer with water. "Here you guys go!" He said cheerfully, presenting them with their new glasses.

Lance took the offered glass happily. He then placed the glass down on the bar and proceeded to do some sort of interpretive hand signals. "Thenks, budshy!" He knocked the glass down without pausing in his 'grateful' hand flailings and looked at it blankly. "Oopsh."

"Haha," Keith laughed, drinking his water messily. "Idio' Lance." His face brightened. "Idiance!" He broke down in laughter, dropping his glass in the process. He looked at it for a brief moment before shrugging and turning away.

Lance seemed to think of something and momentarily stopped in his hand gestures to point at Keith. Well, he tried to point at Keith. In his drunk stupor, he ended up pointing slightly to the left of Keith. "I won the dr'nk cont'st!"

"No, me!" Keith said childishly, stomping his foot. "Teeth won!"

"No, Lance!" Lance argued, crossing his arms. He then uncrossed his arms and snatched a glass of water from Hunk's hands. "I'll prooove itt!" He started drinking it quickly, most of the water falling out of his mouth or not even entering his mouth at all but spilling out around it.

Pidge, sensing her fun was about to end, quickly hurried over there with her jug in hand. "Keep the camera rolling," she ordered Matt as she left. Nearing the two drunk Paladins, she asked, "You know that's not alcohol, right?"

Lance looked at her out of the corner of his eye and immediately sprayed the little water in his mouth all over Keith. "G-g-grill!"

"Woah," Keith said through dripping bangs, his eyes opening in wonder at the water spraying around him. "It's rain!" He then frowned, his drunk mind thoroughly confused. "Rain from ceeling?"

"An' now," Shiro sobbed, clutching Adam's shirt dramatically in one hand, spilling his drink with the other, "Keef is stuuuuupid!"

Adam sighed for the final time and adjusted his glasses. He snatched the drink from Shiro's hand and with a surprising display of strength, swept Shiro off his feet and began carrying him to his room. "And now, you're going to bed."

"No, Addddmmmm!" Shiro cried, still clutching his empty glass in his hand. "I'm tooooooooo str'ssed to sleep!"

"I'll hold you until you sleep," Adam said lovingly, smiling down at his still crying boyfriend.

Shiro sniffed, looking up at him hopefully. "Really?"

"Unless you throw up. Then don't expect me to be there when you wake up," Adam replied, smiling evilly.

"Adddduuuummmmm," Shiro whined, dropping his glass. "Yer gon curse me! You sed tha' las' time an' I got los'!"

"It's fine, Takashi," Adam reassured. "I will find you again."

"Promise," Shiro demanded, looking tired and his eyes drooping. "I don' wan' to go through that again…"

"I'm here, Takashi," Adam said soothingly, his arms starting to feel the strain of carrying Shiro's massive body weight. "But we gotta get you to bed before I drop you."

"I dun wanna!"

"Too bad."

* * *

"It-it-it-it's a grill!" Lance shrieked, pointing at Pidge from behind Keith. However, he was pointing around Keith, so his arm was wrapped around Keith's torso and his finger was pointing in the wrong direction.

"Why do you keep calling me a grill?" Pidge asked wryly with a raised eyebrow. "And why are you behind Keith?"

"'M not Keef!" Keith said with a pout. "I'm Teeth!"

"Right. Why are you behind Teeth?" Pidge corrected herself, rolling her eyes at the joy that lit up Keith's face at being called his 'correct' name.

"'Cuz yuer a grill!" Lance said, his voice shaking.

"Oh ho?" Pidge asked raising her eyebrow. "Do you happen to be afraid of girls?"

"No, _grills_!" Lance stressed, his narrowed eyes peeking around Keith. "Grills're bad!"

"Oh ho," Pidge said again, smirking. "I see. ALLURA!" she screamed, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify the sound.

"Yes, Pidge?" Allura asked, appearing from the hallway.

Lance saw her and shrieked, stumbling away and scrambling behind the bar where an exasperated Hunk was, cleaning the empty glasses. "A purty grill!"

"What, am I not pretty?" Pidge asked, slightly offended. "And why are you more afraid of pretty girls?"

"Because!" Lance looked around wildly before cupping his hand around his mouth and whispering loudly, "Purty grills are eeeeeeeevilll! More eeeviillll den oter grills!"

"Ho!" Pidge got a gleam in her eye and pushed Allura none too gently to Lance, watching in amusement as Lance flailed and screamed, trying to throw a startled Hunk at her.

"Get awaaaay, GRILL!"

Allura blinked, perplexed by the situation she was suddenly dragged into. Before she was able to voice her question, Coran and Starfire appeared out of nowhere, taking her by the arms and leading her to their sitting area where they had been chugging Nunvill with satisfied grins.

Pidge slowly snuck up behind Lance with a large grin on her face. "Lancey Lance," she sang, slowly approaching him.

Lance fearfully glanced at her, backing up until he was stopped by the wall. She climbed over the table to join him in his space behind the bar. He whimpered as she drew closer, leaning away and looking frantically for a way out.

"Lancey Lance~ Just one hug?" Pidge asked cheerily, faking a pout. "You're all for those, aren't you, Lancey?" She stretched out her arms, making small grabbing motions.

"Evil grilllllllll!" Lance yelled, crawling backwards, pushing himself across the table. Pidge's eyes widened as she noticed how dangerously close he was to the ledge of the bar.

She stepped forward with a hand reached out, trying to grab him and prevent him from falling. "Wait- Lance, watch-"

"Stop, grill!" Lance shrieked, and toppled over, landing on the floor with a crash. Luckily, the long since passed out Keith was there to cushion his fall. However, the excessive amounts of alcohol that he had been drinking kicked in and he fell unconscious, snoring on Keith's chest.

Pidge shook her head in disappointment. "Lightweights," she scoffed, going back to Matt and the camera.

Matt rolled his eyes and turned the camera off. "Well, New Years is long gone, and I think it's time that you go to bed, missy."

"What?" Pidge asked, her eyes wide. "But I got all this alcohol to drink! I haven't even gotten to the strong stuff yet!"

Matt rolled his eyes again and tugged the jug out of her hands, gently pushing her in the direction of the rooms. "Where'd you even get the alcohol anyway?"

Pidge smiled innocently. "Coran gave it all to me for Christmas!"

Matt sighed and shook his head. "Just go to sleep, you brat."

* * *

The next morning, when Pidge walked into the kitchen, she noticed that three of the four Paladins already had their heads down on the kitchen table.

"You guys good?" Pidge asked a little too loudly as she stole a piece of bacon that Hunk was frying.

"Shut _up_ , Pidge!" Lance groaned. "You're making my headache worse!"

"Speak for yourself," Keith snarled, shifting to glare at Lance without removing his head from the table, "your voice is like nails on a chalkboard!"

"Oh, shut it, _Teeth_!" Keith merely scowled in response, in too much pain to actually waste energy thinking of a comeback.

"Such is the repercussions of drinking heavily," Pidge said dryly. "You had a lot to drink… but not more than me, of course."

"Then why aren't _you_ in pain?" Lance griped, glaring at her from the corner of his eye.

"I told you she never gets hungover," Matt grumbled, sporting a small headache of his own.

"Mmhmm! And because I was sober last night, I found out some very interesting things about you all," Pidge said, chuckling to herself.

Lance sat up and immediately regretted it as light blinded him and amplified the throbbing in his head. He gingerly set his head back down and mumbled, "What, you got more blackmail?"

"Yup! Do you want to see it?" Pidge asked, cheerily waving her video camera in her hand.

"After my head stops hurting," Lance whimpered.

"Hehe, okay!" Pidge chirped, taking her plate of breakfast and skipping away.

"Freaking gremlin," Lance griped, trying to block out some of the pain.

Shiro immediately grabbed the back of her shirt before she could leave the kitchen. "Pidge… where is the alcohol?"

"Why, do you want more?" the Green Paladin asked, a small grin slipping onto her face.

" _No_! Where are you hiding it?"

"Why couldn't _we_ drink?" Beast Boy groaned. "I wanted to try it too!"

Robin smacked him upside the head with a disapproving glare. "We're younger than they are, and _they're_ underage. It's technically _illegal_ ," Robin said, staring at Pidge pointedly. She smirked at him and waved.

"I'd rather not be reduced to a brainless buffoon for a few hours," Raven said, having floated into the kitchen just recently. She immediately went to make herself yet another mug of herbal tea.

"Why should I tell you? You're gonna steal it!" Pidge was saying, squirming out of Shiro's hold.

"Pidge, you shouldn't be drinking!" Shiro let out a groan as another wave of pain and nausea hit him.

"Why does it hurt so much?" Keith winced, holding his own head.

"Because you drank more than you should have! And that's why you should drink responsibly, kids," Pidge said with a smirk on her face as she took a swig of beer from her magical gallon jug that appeared from thin air.

"Who are you talking to?" Shiro questioned as he looked at Pidge oddly. A realization hit him suddenly, making him sigh. "And if they're kids, they shouldn't drink at all! Also, why are you still drinking?!"

"Bah, I turned out fine, didn't I?" Pidge asked, taking another long sip from her gallon jug.

Shiro scowled and swiped the jug from her hand. "You're going to get alcohol poisoning. Quit drinking!"

"Nooo!" Pidge whined, reaching for the jug. Shiro held it far above his head, out of her reach. He handed it off to Adam, who dutifully took it with him as he left the kitchen.

"Shiro!"

"Don't drink underage!"


	11. Chapter 11: Showtime, The Sequel

**Ho ho? What's this? A double update?**

 **Yes, yes, my friends, I have provided thee with a double update! Why? Because Silver and I felt bad that we didn't update in like a month, and we didn't want to come back with only two short specials. So! Here we are! Also we're kind of breaching mini arc territory so... we gotta keep it rolling ;P**

 **Also this was a very long chapter to write AND edit so... you're welcome.**

 **Enjoy~**

* * *

"Holy quiznak, what are you doing back here?!" Lance shrieked at the sight of a very familiar long-haired alien prince sitting on the sofa casually.

"Who's he?" Adam whispered to Shiro, surprised at Lance's visible disgust toward the purple-skinned male.

"Lotor," Shiro responded quietly.

Adam scowled, righteous fury welling up inside him. He had heard all about Lotor from the others. Specifically, what he had done to Shiro. And he wasn't happy about any of it. "Isn't he-"

"I'll explain later," Shiro promised, kissing Adam softly.

Pidge made a gagging sound from behind, causing Shiro to break the kiss and roll his eyes at Pidge's antics.

"Allura and Coran called me a few nights ago and asked me to return," Lotor said, enjoying the agonized look on Lance's face.

"So that's what you were doing that night!" Lance accused a slightly guilty-looking Coran and Allura.

"Well, I believe that Lotor's presence here would help us return to where we are supposed to be," Allura responded primly.

"So you guys disappeared for all that time just to make a call?" Pidge asked suspiciously.

"Y-yes. Of course," Allura said nervously, looking at a suddenly sweating Coran.

"What did you actually do?" Pidge pestered. "You didn't just call him. There's no way."

"Well, we did, and that's all that happened," Allura said a little waspishly, getting anxious with the Green Paladin's inquisitive nature. "Not that it concerns you."

"Sheesh, you don't have to snap," Pidge muttered, rolling her eyes. "I get it. Princess duties and all."

Remembering Coran's harangue that night, Allura's guilt increased tenfold. "No, I'm sorry, Pidge-"

"It's fine," Pidge interrupted with a hand held up, "I get it."

"Pidge," Coran said warningly, "the Princess is apologizing. Listen to her."

Blinking in surprise, Pidge begrudgingly turned back to Allura. "What?"

"I'm sorry for being rude to you all. I did not mean to be so arrogant in my manners." Allura bowed apologetically to all the shocked Paladins.

Adam crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at her. "Sure," he muttered sarcastically, earning a light nudge from his fiancée. Adam huffed, still not happy with the way he had heard Allura had acted toward Shiro.

"We forgive you, Princess," Hunk said gently, placing a large hand on Allura's shoulder.

"Speak for yourself," Pidge muttered saltily. Keith gave a quiet hum of agreement.

"I know I've wronged you, Keith," Allura said, looking the Red Paladin in the eyes. "And I will try my hardest to improve."

Keith shrugged. "Okay."

Adam placed a hand on the Red Paladin's shoulder and fixed Allura with a hard stare. If the way she had treated Shiro was bad, Keith had been the subject of downright abuse. And Adam already felt protective over Shiro's socially inept, angsty, younger brother.

Knowing this was the closest to acceptance she was going to get right now, Allura sighed and turned to Lotor. "I am so sorry for the way the Paladins have treated you."

"No, no, it's amusing," Lotor said with a smile.

"Pidge, Lance," Allura said with a sigh, "try and at least be kinder to Lotor. You three should do something together and try and get along!"

"Pidge and I already get along quite well," Lotor mentioned to Allura with a small smile.

"Why is he saying that?" Lance whispered to Pidge.

"Because I was acting nice last time to get the metals," Pidge whispered back.

"Oh yeah."

"Pidge? What are you and Lance whispering about?" Lotor asked.

"Uh… ways we can become closer together," Pidge said with a large smile.

"Yeah! We have the perfect idea!" Lance chimed in.

"We do?" Pidge asked Lance in confusion. Lance gave her a look and Pidge immediately smiled again. "We do!"

"Oh?" Lotor asked interestedly. "What is it?"

"Follow me," Lance said, tugging Pidge with him. Curious, Lotor got up and followed Lance who was struggling to hide his large grin.

"Is this a good idea to let those three go alone?" Robin asked, unconvinced Lance and Pidge had suddenly changed their opinions of Lotor that quickly.

"Probably not," Shiro replied, "we'll go and help them if we hear chaos."

"Chaos?" Allura inquired, getting a bad feeling about her suggestion.

"You know, yells, shouts, loud noises," Shiro said casually, sitting on the sofa and watching Beast Boy and Cyborg play a video game. Adam sat next to Shiro, leaning back against the sofa as his fiancée watched the game in rapt fascination. The following round, Shiro politely asked to try and easily defeated an aghast Cyborg, who had already beaten Beast Boy, quite quickly.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Pidge hissed to Lance.

"I have a plan," Lance said with a snicker. He stopped at Keith and Coran's room. "Here we are!" Lance announced.

They went in and Lance gestured to the bed. "Please, stay over there and remain here for a bit while Pidge and I get the required materials for our… bonding time."

Lance, never having let go of Pidge, dragged her outside with him. "Pidge, let's go and gather a bunch of hair ties, ribbons, hairspray, etc."

"Ooh," Pidge said in delight. "We're playing with his hair?"

"Yup!"

"Actually, I'm going to go back in and keep him occupied and unsuspicious so you go and gather the things. I recommend Starfire's room. She has a bunch of hair stuff in there."

"Okay!" Lance chirped and skipped off.

Pidge entered Keith and Coran's room with an innocent look on her face. "Lance went to go get the things and I am going to keep you entertained while we're waiting."

"Why are we doing this again?" Lotor questioned.

"We're… setting aside past grudges," Pidge responded with a mysterious smirk.

"Okay…" Lotor said, oblivious to all of the bad things about to happen to him.

"So… how is your father?" Pidge asked casually, trying to find out exactly how good Lotor was here.

"Oh, he's… in space jail," Lotor said rather sadly.

Pidge blinked. "Huh?"

"He… tried to destroy the planet known as Altea while trying to bring back my mother, but he was stopped and thrown in prison."

"... I see…" Pidge said, amazed. "I kinda want to stay here if everything's that simple," she mumbled to herself.

"What was that?" Lotor asked, not quite having heard her.

"I'm so sorry that he's in prison," Pidge said with false sympathy.

"Oh, it's-"

"PIDGE, TACKLE HIM!" Lance yelled as he slid into the room, arms full of hair products. Pidge tackled the surprised Lotor and managed to get him to lay flat on his back. Lance dropped his armful of products and joined in, taking over for Pidge as he basically laid on top of the struggling Lotor.

"What are you doing?" Lotor asked, gritting his teeth as he tried to move his trapped arms.

"Holding you still! Pidge! Start!"

"Oh it!" Pidge scrambled to the pile of hair products and grabbed a few hair ties.

"Pidge?" Lotor said in betrayal. Pidge scampered to his head and began portioning off his hair.

"Lance, you didn't grab a brush," she complained as she had to hold Lotor's head steady because he kept tossing it.

"Sorry, I didn't know which of Starfire's alien things was a brush," Lance apologized with a slight grunt as Lotor kneed him in the gut.

"Wow, it's so soft," Pidge marveled as she began braiding a random third of his hair.

"Pidge, a little- ugh- help?" Lance huffed as he began to lose his grip on the bucking Lotor.

"Okay!" Pidge, not letting go of the hair, moved so she was straddling Lotor's chest and arms and Lance was able to move down and sprawl across his legs.

"Wha- Why are you doing this?" Lotor cried in confusion.

"It's bonding!" Lance panted, out of breath from hanging onto Lotor while dodging his flailing limbs.

"What in the world is this?" The three looked to the door to find everyone else gathered there and staring at the pile of humans and alien incredulously.

"We're bonding," Lance repeated cheekily.

Pidge tied off the braid and grinned at them brightly. "You guys should join us! His hair is so soft and silky!"

"Help me…" Lotor said weakly as he blushed from Pidge's awkward position on his chest.

"Keith, go grab a brush!" Lance ordered.

Keith stared at them for a moment longer before shrugging. "Okay. Whatever." He walked out of the room.

"Keith, you're not actually doing it, are you?" Shiro called.

No response.

"These are the people you have been with for the past two years?" Adam asked archly, examining the Lotor pile intensely.

"Yup," Shiro answered, looking at the scene fondly.

Hunk stared at Pidge and Lance hesitantly. "Don't you think Lotor should at least be sitting up for this?"  
Pidge and Lance exchanged looks.

"Do you agree to let us play with your hair if we let you go?" Pidge asked, giving him a hopeful look.

"..." Lotor glared at them before resigning himself to his fate and sighing. "Fine."

Pidge grinned at him and hopped off, taking the brush Keith was holding out, and Lance begrudgingly got off of Lotor's legs.

"I feel betrayed," Lotor said, feeling hurt. Pidge's grin faltered for a minute, feeling bad for this good version of Lotor.

"Sorry Lotor… but your hair just looked so nice that I wanted to play with it…"

"I would have let you if you had asked," Lotor said tiredly. "My daughters always want to do the same thing."

"Daughters?" Matt asked in shock, reeling back.

"Yeah, Allura's," Pidge answered her brother, smirking at the crestfallen expression on his face.

"Doesn't she hate him?" Adam asked Shiro, receiving a nod in return. "Then how….?"

"... Sorry," Pidge said to Lotor sheepishly. Lotor smiled in slight amusement.

"I forgive you."

"Pidge, you aren't doing it right!" Lance complained. "Do you not know how to style hair?"

"Well… when I had long hair, I just always put it in a ponytail," Pidge confessed. "And mom, dad, and Matt didn't really know how to style hair… so…"

"That sounds like him," Adam remarked.

"Well when you're a guy, that kind of stuff doesn't matter as much!" Matt said defensively.

"But your sister is basically your brother now," Adam said, lips quirking upwards.

"I take offense to that," Pidge said as she accidentally created another knot in Lotor's hair.

"Oh my lord, give me the brush," Lance said, snatching the brush from her.

Pidge raised a brow as she sat a few inches away. "You know how to style hair?"

"I have a niece, Pidge," Lance deadpanned, not looking up from his careful ministrations.

"You're an uncle!?"

Lance shrugged. "Big family. Like...huge."

"And your sisters," Hunk added, joining in and taking a portion of Lotor's hair as well.

"See? It's not that hard, Matt," Adam teased, nudging the brunette lightly. "Lance could do it."

"Well…" Matt mumbled, not really having a response to that.

"Hunk, you know how to do hair too?" Pidge asked, shocked.

"Niece."

"... What's next? Keith, do you also know how to do hair?" Pidge asked sarcastically.

"No," Keith responded with an eye roll.

"At least that answer was expected," Pidge grumbled.

"Hey, is there a TV in here?" Lance asked, looking up from his intense braiding. "Let's watch something!"

"Like what?" Keith asked skeptically.

"I don't know. Turn on the TV!"

As soon as the TV was turned on, a very familiar looking notification popped up.

"Would you like to watch _The Feud_?"

"Coran, do you have something plugged in?" Hunk asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I was watching my favorite show!" Coran said in his defense.

"Well, should we?" Shiro looked around and seeing the interest on everyone's faces, clicked yes.

 _Immediately, spot lights began to turn on one by one, illuminating a stage as an enthusiastic announcer with a nasally voice introduced the show._

 _"Hello! And welcome to another exciting episode of the craaaaaazzziest game in the galaxy! Garfle Warfle Snick!" The stage fully lit up, revealing the two sets of five contestant tables on either side of the stage, lit up with the multitude of screens and flashing lights. "And now, here's the host of Garfle Warfle Snick, Bob!"_

"Ugh," Pidge groaned, recognizing the show.

"No." Keith grimaced, refusing to look at the screen.

"Why is someone named Bob hosting such a crazy show?" Cyborg questioned.

"Because he is also crazy," Pidge mumbled, leaning on Lance.

Lance swatted at her in annoyance. "Pidge, don't restrict my movements while I'm trying to do a braided crown!"

 _A small platform slid open on the center of the stage, a strange contraption of a chair whirling out with a strange green alien with four arms grinning in the seat. He opened his arms wide, his grin never faltering as the screen shifted for a second as if the connection to the show were weak._

 _"Thank you, Norlox. Hi, everybody! Welcome to another exciting addition of Garfle Warfle Snick!" He crossed his arms. "The game where anything Garfle will be Warfled and vice versa. I'm Bob." He gestured to the side enthusiastically, the camera following his hand to the set of table stands to his right. "And now let's meet the intergalactic goofballs we've got playing with us!"_

 _Each of the Paladins rose standing shoulder to shoulder, looking utterly lost and confused. Shiro blinked about him in surprise, Hunk looked panicked and nervous, Lance looked around with a similar expression, Pidge stared questioningly at everything, and Keith looked on guard._

 _"What is this place?" Shiro asked, looking suddenly very worried._

 _"Looks like some… kind of game show," Hunk chimed in._

"A game show from _hell_!" Lance cried, accidentally pulling on Lotor's hair in his frustration and causing a wince of pain.

"Lance, be careful with the pretty hair," Pidge warned.

"Yeah, yeah," Lance said flippantly, undoing his too tight knot in the middle of the braid.

 _"What's happening?" Keith asked, leaning away from his surroundings as it provided no answer._

 _"I don't know," Pidge replied with a pensive look. "The last thing I remember, we were all flying in our Lions-"_

 _She didn't get the chance to fully finish as Bob swiveled up right before a shocked Keith, shoving a microphone in his face. "Hi, there! Tell us your name and where you're from!"_

 _Keith furrowed his brows, staring distrustfully at the host. "Wh-what is this?"_

 _"Uh-oh! Looks like someone wasn't listening to Norlox!" Bob said, releasing the microphone attached to his hover chair and speaking to the crowd as the Paladins followed his movement with nervous confusion. Norlox shrugged with a nasally huff, the supposed crowd laughing aloud. "Tell them what this is, everybody." Keith, Lance, and Pidge, the only ones in the camera frame at the time, looked to the camera with unease. The same colorful introduction appeared on the screen, the crowd yelling out the alien show name. "That's right! The name of the game is Garfle Warfle Snick." He turned from the crowd back to the Paladins. "Now, tell us your name, son!" He spun in the air, stopping to lean on Keith's stand and looking up at him expectantly._

 _"My name is...Keith," he replied hesitantly, "How did we get here?"_

"You know, Keith, you shouldn't talk to strangers… even if they are gods," Coran advised. "I don't know if they teach earthlings this, but Altean children are-"

"Well, we didn't have a choice, now did we, Coran?" Keith huffed.

 _"Well, I'll tell you how Norlox got to be on the show," Bob said instead, pushing off of Keith's stand. "His uncle owns the studio." Norlox glared from his spot across the stage as the crowd snickered. "Alright Keith, why don't you introduce us to the rest of your team?"_

 _"We're… the Paladins of Voltron. This is Shiro, Hunk, Lance-" Lance quickly moved from his observing position by Shiro and struck a charming pose "-and Pidge. But you haven't answered my question. How did we get here?"_

"Wow, that was the cringiest thing ever, Lance!" Pidge laughed.

"I don't see any of your stylish and cool moves," Lance retorted snidely, laughing at Pidge's scrunched up expression.

 _Bob leaned back in his chair with crossed arms as he looked to the crowd. "I hope not the same way I got here. A Moofglider was Jacked on the Holdar expressway and it took forever to get past it!" His chair spun upside down and back up as he explained, holding his head as if he had a headache. "I still smell like Moof!"_

"What does a Moof smell like?" Beast Boy asked.

"Probably like you after you sweat in animal form," Raven said sarcastically.

"Hey!"

"Actually, friend Raven is right, friend Beast Boy-"

"What?!"

 _He was suddenly back to leaning on Keith's table, prompting the Red Paladin to back away nervously. "Okay, Keith, I'm sure you know how to play our game. All you've got to do is accumulate Quanzanboolian credits and you win. Of course if you don't, you'll hear this sound-" a sound not unlike a losing trombone tune played "-and that means you're trapped here in our studio for the rest of eternity."_

 _"Wait, what?" Hunk asked from beside Lance who looked like he'd just seen a ghost._

 _"Did you say we'd be trapped here for the rest of eternity!?" Pidge cried in astonishment. The other Paladins recovered from being shocked and took on fearful and worried expressions as Bob turned to address the crowd again._

 _"Uh-oh… is there an echo in here, echo in here?"_

"This guy is so obnoxious," Robin muttered. "He reminds me of Mad Mod…"

All of the Titans shivered.

"Who's Mad Mod?" Shiro asked.

"A lunatic," Robin responded, getting a headache from just thinking about him.

"Oh, we've dealt with plenty of those," Shiro said sympathetically. Adam frowned at the thought of said lunatics around Shiro and leaned in close to Shiro, putting his head on his shoulder.

 _"I don't know who you are, or what's going on, but we're getting out of here!" Keith said with a glare._

 _Bob chuckled happily and snapped his fingers, yellow wisps of energy leaving his fingertips. "Oh, I don't think so!"_

 _A yellow light engulfed everyone from their ankles down, expanding into a small circular platform at their feet, startling them all. They proceeded to attempt to pry them off. Shiro tried to pull his feet up with no success. Lance grabbed at his feet and tried to rip them free. Pidge craned her body upwards with strained sounds, while Hunk and Keith stared down at their feet in shock._

 _"My feet are stuck!" Lance said, ceasing his futile tugs._

 _"Mine too," Pidge chimed in._

"Dude, you don't tell the bad guy you're going to leave!" Beast Boy complained. "That's like common sense!"

"That's rich coming from you," Raven scoffed.

 _Bob's expression darkened as he watched, a rather sinister smile taking up his features. "See, all of you are guests on my show," his voice suddenly shifted to sound echoey and demonic, a shadow falling over his face, "and you will play my game as long as I want you to!" His face suddenly brightened along with his smile, his voice returning to normal. "Understand?"_

 _Everyone was frozen, staring at him with a more fearful and silent look, Lance's hands still wrapped around his feet. They all nodded rapidly in sync, too afraid to do anything else._

 _"Great! Let's start with our first Warfle. Tell us what it is, Norlox."_

 _"The first Warfler is…" the strange alien looked down at the card in his grey claws for a moment before gesturing dramatically with his other hand. "Pictation!"_

 _The crowd went wild, cheering and clapping as a translucent green screen lowered from the ceiling, bright lights flickering happily from around its frame. Much to his surprise, the platform holding Keith's legs whisked out, carrying the paladin over to a new stand by the screen in a twirl that left him disorientated and gripping the table to steady his swimming vision._

 _"Come on over here, Keith. Pictation: the drawing game. Keith, the answers will pop up on your screen where your team can't see them and it's up to you to draw the people and places you've seen during your adventures as a Paladin of Voltron while your team tries to guess the answers." Keith took the pen that magically poofed before him uneasily before the camera moved to show the others standing dumbfounded from their original spots. It moved back to a very anxious Red Paladin as Bob addressed him again. "Are you a good artist, Keith?"_

 _"I….uh…"_

 _"Well, I hope you're a better drawer than a talker, eh?" He lifted his hand, a few rings of yellow magic sliding off before exploding in a puff of smoke around Keith. He was very startled to find his mullet tied up in a ponytail at the top of his scalp and a pacifier stuck in his mouth, giving him the look of an oversized baby. The crowd chuckled. "Let's put Blazle Hooches on the board!" The camera moved again to a different screen that suddenly lit up with alien letters from behind the paladins. "Aaaaand, go!"_

 _Keith frantically began drawing a crude rectangle as a monotone lady's voice said for only him to hear, "The answer is Arusian."_

"So the answer is said out loud by the bot?" Lotor asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That sounds stupid," Adam remarked, putting his head on Shiro's shoulder. "Why would they say the answer out loud?"

"It's alien technology," Matt muttered, sighing. "It's never that simple."

"No, only Keith could hear it," Pidge explained, stretching her legs out to rest on Keith's lap.

"It's a knock-off version of Pictionary," Cyborg pointed out.

"It's the alien version," Lance said, picking up a hair tie to section off the half of the hair he wasn't currently holding.

 _He was in the middle of drawing strange warped triangles as ears when the others began to launch off guesses._

 _"It's a rock!" Hunk said, leaning forward. "Balmera!"_

 _Keith had finished drawing the stripes on the ears and had begun the eyes as Pidge called out, "An Olkari Cube!"_

 _"It's a chicken!" Lance yelled confidently. He gasped as Pidge stared at him in disbelief._

 _"When did we see a chicken in outer space!?"_

 _"I don't know, it's not my fault Keith can't draw!"_

"A chicken of all things," Keith muttered. "A chicken."

"Shut up, Keith! You need to draw better!"

"What part of that looked like a chicken?!"

"What part of that looked like a cube?!"

"Hey, don't bring me into this," Pidge objected.

 _Keith began on the body, drawing thin arms and legs, each with small spikes as toes and fingers. Lance continued to spew out random answers._

 _"Rooster! A chicken hawk! A chicken with a beard!"_

"Why are you so intent on a bird?" Raven asked dryly.

"It looked like a chicken!" Lance said defensively.

"It really doesn't," Matt said, shaking his head.

 _Shiro stared hard at the picture before his eyes widened and he lunged forward as far as he could. "It's an Arusian!"_

"Good job, Takashi," Adam praised, squeezing Shiro's hand gently.

Starfire tilted her head. "I suppose… friend Keith is not an artist."

"No, he is not," Lance agreed.

 _"Correct!" Bob praised, colorful writing appearing over the picture with a bright sound effect to accompany._

 _"The answer is Blade of Marmora," the same voice said to Keith. Keith pondered for a moment before starting to draw the beginnings of his Marmoran blade rather decently._

 _"What is that?" Lance asked, stuttering as he thought of his next answer. "Chopsticks?"_

"Lance… we don't even use chopsticks when we eat food goo! What makes you think there are chopsticks in outer space?!" Pidge yelled, taking out all of the stress she remembered from that moment on him.

Matt snorted. "Pidge, don't take out your stress on him."

"Well, you never know!"

 _"It's something from space, Lance," Hunk said tiredly, noticing how Keith had stopped to grip his pen in frustration._

 _"Uh, space chopsticks?" The pen snapped in two._

"... Your lack of brain cells is really astounding," Raven remarked.

"Why does everyone pick on me and my intelligence?" Lance pouted. He finished up the braided crown and left Lotor as he was, opting to focus on the show.

Lotor reached up and touched the crown and sighed as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.

"You mean your lack of," Pidge replied, dodging a swat from the hair brush.

 _"It's a knife…" Pidge started, smiling as her brain began to kick in. "Sword...Oh! Oh! Blade of Marmora!" She pointed forward energetically as Bob flew by with a "right again!"_

"Yes!" Matt said, giving Pidge a fist bump. "Good job, little sis!"

 _Keith stared at the pen that poofed back in one piece in his hand in a mix of shock and awe as the voice returned with, "The answer is Red Lion."_

"Why do you look so amazed?" Lance asked. "It's alien technology."

"The pen reformed after your stupidity broke it," Keith said flatly. "I thought it was going to be ruined forever by your idiocy."

 _Keith quickly recovered and scribbled down a series of shaky circles with different sized triangles as eyes and weirdly deformed ovals as jaws before continuing on to a very box like body and skinny legs._

"Keith, what part of that looked like a Lion to you?" Shiro asked in concern. "I think we might have to check your prescription."

"I can kind of tell," Adam said, tilting his head slightly, raising it a touch off of Shiro's shoulder.

"I know I suck at drawing, don't rub it in," Keith snapped, crossing his arms and his ears turning red in embarrassment.

 _"Dog! It's a dog!" Lance called out._

"Dogs do not exist in space," Lotor pointed out. "They cannot breathe."

"I mean, neither can chickens," Matt said dryly.

"Shut up, Galra Prince." Lance crossed his arms and puffed out his cheeks in a perfect imitation of a sulking toddler.

 _"It's a Lion!" Hunk said exasperatedly. This prompted Keith's head to snap up as he nodded vigorously, abandoning the drawing._

 _He made a sweeping motion with his hand as if asking for elaboration as Hunk began listing out guesses, Keith's hand moving faster the more he guessed. "Uh...Black Lion, Blue Lion, Yellow Lion, Red Lion-"_

 _"Red Lion is right!" Bob announced, the Paladins gathering to celebrate by holding each others hands while Keith seemed to pose smugly thanks to his wondrous drawing abilities._

 _"The answer is Haggar."_

 _Keith turned back to his screen with a determined look, hurrying to scribble down the next drawing._

 _"Pepperoni!" Lance began as Keith drew a dome as a hood. "An alligator! A cave! A windy cave! Oh no, no, no!" Keith had at this point drawn scraggly hair and draping spikes as a cloak that framed the triangle of a face. "What is that thing called? It's uh...uh...a thermos!"_

"A windy cave?" Lotor asked incredulously. "What does that even look like?"

"Yeah, how do you _see_ wind?" Robin asked.

"Sh-shut up! I was stressed!"

"So were we and you didn't see us sprouting out stupid answers like 'pepperoni,'" Pidge snarked.

"That's enough of belittling Lance's intelligence today," Shiro said sternly. "Besides, he made it in the end."

 _Shiro rubbed his temples, unable to think as the timer continued to count down. "Lance, stop talking," he said stressfully. Hunk looked utterly lost and Lance glanced away with a grimace._

"You know it's bad when _Shiro_ tells you to be quiet," Robin said, already understanding the other leader on a more personal, leader-to-leader level.

"Takashi has very high stress tolerance," Adam muttered, running his fingers over the back of Shiro's hand absentmindedly.

 _They were alerted when a buzzer went off, signaling the end of the timer. "Oh~ Time's up."_

 _"What!? No way that was Blazle Hooches!" Lance said angrily, gripping the sides of his stand with gloved hands. Keith slid tiredly back to his spot, looking very much exhausted and without his baby accessories._

 _"Looks like our other team is going to have the opportunity to steal!" Bob said, gesturing to the other side of the stage._

 _"What...other team?" Hunk asked, scared at what the answer would be as the mark of the Galra appeared over the five other stands across the stage, four cardboard figures being wheeled up from the floor and poofing into actual figures one by one._

 _"Zarkon!?" Lance cried, leaning forward as Keith took on a more defensive position, Pidge taken aback, Shiro crossing his arms, and Hunk scrubbing at his eyes. "No way!"_

 _"This can't be happening," The yellow paladin muttered while being unable to look away from the four Galrans. No doubt he remembered how Zarkon had been killed a few months back, Lotor not too long afterwards. Their eyes clearly did not deceive them though, as they stared at none other than Zarkon, Lotor, Haggar, and Morvak._

"They were there?" Matt asked in alarm, eyes widening. "Wow, that's the entire Galra royal family!"

"Oh. It's me." Lotor stared in wonder at his 'team.' "And my father and mother…"

"Has it been a long time since you've seen them?" Allura asked curiously.

"Yes… I last saw them when I was no more than a mere infant."

"Wait, so that's your Lotor?" Beast Boy asked, recalling how the Lotor here was apparently not the same.

"An altered version of, yes," Pidge said. She shook her head. "Just wait."

 _Bob flew over to them, ignoring the paladins and their astonishment in favor of greeting his new guests. "Hello, there."_

 _"Hello, Bob," Zarkon said with a rather emotionless tone and face._

 _"Why don't you introduce yourself to the audience and tell us who these wonderful people are with you!"_

"Wonderful people," Matt repeated sarcastically. "Sure, wonderful, my a-"

"Matt," Shiro said, stopping him from finishing his sentence.

 _"I'm Zarkon," he gestured to himself before turning to place a hand on Haggar's shoulder with a smile. "This is my lovely wife, Haggar."_

" _That's_ Zarkon?" Cyborg asked, recalling when they had first met the Paladins. "That's who you're fighting up there?"

"He doesn't normally act like this but yeah, that's him," Hunk replied.

"It is...a very strange sight to see," Allura chimed in, having only heard of the Paladin's encounter with Bob and the strange Galrans.

"Lovely?" Beast Boy asked in horror. "This guy needs to get his eyes checked!" Then, he remembered that their son was right next to them and he gave Lotor a sheepish look. "Uh, no offense, dude."

"None taken."

 _"Hello," she croaked as Bob leaned closer with a charming look._

 _"Hubah, hubah!"_

"Oh ew, he did not just flirt with _that_!" Beast Boy cried out, hugging himself as shivers ran up his spine.

 _"My son, Lotor," he continued, the camera following. Lotor had his cheeks puffed and his arms crossed as he looked pointedly away with a hmph. "And one of my insignificant underlings, Morvak."_

"Why am I acting so… odd?" Lotor asked, puzzled. "Do I usually act like this in your universe?"

"... No…" Lance said slowly. "Actually… why _are_ you acting like that?"

"You ask as if I would know," Lotor said dryly.

"Well, you're both… you!" Lance said very intelligently.

"How observant," Lotor said dryly, even more so than before.

 _"I am such a big fan of the show," he said, clasping his hands together with an excited grin. "I can't believe we're here!"_

 _"Well! Welcome, welcome, it's good to have you all on with us," Bob said, leaning forward again. "Especially this lovely…" He raised his eyebrows suggestively a few times, humming to himself._

 _Zarkon gave both a warning and amused chuckle, a smile on his face. "Watch it now~"_

 _"Alright, Zarkon, have you been watching backstage?"_

 _"Yes, I have," the emperor replied almost eagerly._

 _"The Paladins of Voltron have scored three correct answers but now you and your team have the opportunity to steal all of their points if you can correctly identify what good old Keith was doodling on there." The camera moved to show the Paladins still in a state of shock, although Hunk was sweating while Keith looked like he was about to lunge at any moment, before moving to the crude drawing of the witch._

 _"Well, I'd rather steal their Lions than their points!" Zarkon said jokingly. He smiled happily as Bob chimed in to the crowd._

"Ugh, that sneaky-"

"Lance," Allura said warningly, shooting a glance at Lotor.

"It's fine, Allura. I understand." Lotor smiled sadly.

"It is not technically you anyway," Starfire said, placing a hand on his arm.

 _"Yeah, I bet he would!"_

 _"Uh...why are they acting like that?" Hunk asked, breaking the tense silence and prompting both Shiro and Keith to harden their gaze._

 _"It doesn't matter," Shiro muttered, "we're not going to lose to the Galra!"_

 _Zarkon chuckled before turning to Bob. "But seriously, I think I can guess this! You might not like the answer."_

 _He placed a hand on Haggar's back, addressing the last part to her._

"Was my drawing that bad?" Keith complained.

"Well, I mean, they're both equally ugly, Keith, so you did something right," Pidge said comfortingly, patting Keith's back.

 _"Uh-oh! Don't wanna stir up any trouble with the missus!"_

 _"She doesn't look like that drawing, but I'm pretty sure the answer he was going for was…"_

"Actually, Haggar looks pretty similar to the drawing," Hunk said. "The Haggar drawing is just kind of squiggly…"

"Ha!" Keith blurted triumphantly. "I'm not that terrible at drawing after all!"

"But your Red Lion-"

"Quiet, Pidge."

 _"Fingers crossed!" Bob crossed his fingers on all four hands, glancing at the crowd._

 _"Is it...Haggar?" Zarkon asked hopefully._

 _"That is correct! The answer is Haggar!"_

 _Lotor and Morvak began celebrating, pumping their fists and chanting a mantra of "yes" while Zarkon glanced at his wife, sweating dropping, and quickly averting his eyes, rubbing the back of his head and acting as if he couldn't see Haggar's lack of a reaction._

"Do I act like that?" Lotor asked, befuddled at his actions on screen.

"Thankfully, no," Shiro said with a sigh. Adam tightened his grip on Shiro's hand, thinking of the horrors the other Lotor had subjected his fiancée to.

 _Shiro stood facepalming, Hunk looked resigned but still confused. Lance stood with his jaw dropped and Pidge gripped at her hair from beside Keith who had collapsed on his stand, head in his hands._

 _"This is really bizarre," Hunk said as he watched the Galrans celebrate._

 _Keith lifted his head from his hands, his words almost a hiss from his lips. "Windy...cave?"_

 _"Hey! I'm not a mind reader!" Lance shot back._

"You don't have to be," Allura groaned. "That drawing, crude as it was, did look like Haggar somewhat."

"It looked like a windy cave to me!" Lance cried again.

"And when have we ever seen a windy cave in our time in space?" Keith spat, feeling secondhand frustration just by watching the show again.

 _"So, Zarkon, you have Garfled the first Warfler. That puts you in control of the board, do you want to play or pass?"_

 _"Play!" Lotor shouted, grabbing his stand and staring forward with a determined gleam in his eyes. "I've spent centuries perfecting my exquisite life-like renderings! Not that you cared," he finished, glaring at Haggar before leaning away and turning his head away from the short witch._

 _"I treasure your art!" Haggar said, placing a gentle hand on his arm._

 _Lotor yanked his hand away as if burned, cradling it to him with his other hand as he glared harder down at his mother. "Don't touch me, you filthy, filthy, hag!"_

Lotor gasped, unable to believe he would ever speak so rudely to anyone, even his evil family members.

Pidge awkwardly gave him a comforting shoulder squeeze.

"Our Lotor does feel that way about Haggar, I can safely say," Allura said, noticing Lotor's shocked look. "He refused to acknowledge the fact that Honerva had turned into Haggar, despite the evidence."

 _"Don't speak to her that way, you insolent whelp!" Zarkon thundered, holding his wife firmly by the shoulder as his son gasped up at him with a hurt expression. He grit his teeth and turned away, only then noticing Morvak who had been innocently watching the interaction._

 _It took him only a second of pondering before wacking the poor alien across the face, turning away with a huff._

 _"AHOW! I didn't do nothing!" he cried out, gingerly cradling his cheek as the crowd erupted in laughter._

"... What version of me is this?" Lotor asked, his mind racing. "Am I truly this evil?"

The Paladins exchanged pitying looks. This Lotor was so much better than the one in their universe and he didn't deserve to be going through this.

"This version of you isn't evil," Allura said, smiling tentatively at the horrified Galra Prince.

 _"Family, am I right?" Bob chuckled._

 _"They are quite a handful."_

 _"So what's it gonna be, Z?"_

 _"Well, I've always said that the best offense is a good defense," Zarkon began as Bob leaned back pensively._

 _"Sounds like you're going to pass."_

 _"I am. And I think...I'd also like to play..." he pulled out a card with the same colorful alien writing as before, "with this." Bright lights engulfed the stage as the audience oohed, the card appearing on a center screen for all to see._

 _"Uh-oh! Solo card! That means one of these Paladins is going to have to take the next Warfler alone!" He turned back to the emperor who had a hand on his chin in thought. "Question is, Zarkon, which one is it gonna be?"_

"WHERE DID HE EVEN GET THAT?! WE DIDN'T GET THAT! I CALL UNFAIRNESS!" Lance raged, throwing a pillow at the TV.

"Calm down, Lance," Shiro said. "The TV didn't do anything to you."

"Yeah, but the show did!" Lance grumbled.

 _"Well, I think there's really no choice here. I'm going with… the dumb one!" He announced loudly, pointing forward as the camera flipped around and zoomed in on a very dumbfounded Lance._

 _"Who's he talking about?" he asked obliviously._

"Dude, I feel you," Beast Boy said, clapping his friend on the back.

"You both are idiots," Raven said monotonously.

 _"It's time for a word from our sponsor," Bob said to the camera. "But when we get back, Lance will be starting the next Warfler all by his lonesome! So stick around!"_

 _"Wait… I'm the dumb one?" Lance asked as the camera panned away from the stage, a hint of hurt making his voice waver the smallest bit._

"You're not dumb, Lance," Shiro said comfortingly.

"Yeah, your intelligence is still above that of an average human," Pidge said, pushing her glasses up.

"And if Pidge is saying that, it means a lot," Matt added.

Lance smiled weakly. "Thanks, guys."

 _Norlox's voice came back on, announcing the advertisement break. "Garfle Warfle Snick is sponsored by…"_

 _The show cut away to a stereotypical green alien with beady purple eyes, sporting an Area 51 hat and a white shirt with checkered pants. He enthusiastically began describing his store, "It's Earth", with its multitude of human appliances, although he got all of them wrong. Such as proclaiming a CD was a throwing disk with a case, and a toilet as a luxury seat that doubled as a water fountain. After a series of different butchered products and their prices were announced, the screen cut back to the stage._

"Ugh… did he really just use that toilet… as a water… fountain…?" Beast Boy asked, feeling nauseous.

"Aliens, man," Lance said in amazement. "But I did get Kaltenecker from him for free!"

"Kaltenecker?" Robin asked with a furrowed brow.

"Lance's cow," Pidge replied quickly.

"We had a cow too in the rebel hideout," Matt said nostalgically, a faraway look on his face.

"You have a cow!?" Cyborg asked in astonishment.

"Yeah, he makes our milksh-" Lance began.

"Please don't remind me of that terrifying substance!" Allura groaned, looking nauseated.

"What?" Beast Boy asked in confusion. "Milkshakes are great!"

"She saw me milking the cow," Lance explained.

"So?" Robin questioned, raising a dark brow. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"I don't know," Lance shrugged, "maybe it's against Altean morals or something."

"It should be against everyone's morals! You violated the poor creature!" Allura gasped, slamming her hand down on the ground in outrage.

"Don't question it," Shiro muttered, seeing the disbelieving look on the Titans' faces.

 _"And welcome back to Garfle Warfle Snick!" Norlox greeted as the camera zoomed back in to show Bob hovering at the center of the stage with Lance already there with crossed arms._

 _"Right before the break, Zarkon's team decided to make one of the Paladins of Voltron play solo the next round! And the Paladin he chose was the dumb one, Lance! Hey, Lance, how's it going?"_

 _Lance, who had previously been sporting a hurt expression, changed to irritation. "Well, you know what, I'm not too happy about being referred to as the dumb one eighteen times!"_

 _"Ohhh, it was only about four times, you big dumb dumb!"_

"What? Lance… eighteen?" Shiro questioned.

"Exaggerations, most likely," Pidge said with a shrug.

"My point was that he said it a lot," Lance grumbled.

"But by saying eighteen times, you made yourself sound stupider," Adam pointed out.

 _Lance flinched, arms still crossed, and then glared as a sad trombone sequence played and the audience burst into laughter. Lance switched his gaze over to Bob, still looking rather angry as Bob continued talking._

 _"Well, now you've got a chance to change all that and show everyone how smart you really are! Are you ready for that?"_

 _Lance looked at him with fire in his eyes and his fists clenched. "Absolutely!"_

 _"Okay, let's give Lance a big round of applause, he is a great sport. Norlox, tell Lance what the next Warfler is."_

 _"The next Warfler is," he began, another card in hand, "Faces From the Past!"_

 _"Oooh, little walk down memory lane. Lance, you know how this game goes, am I right?"_

 _"Um, y-yeah! Totally!" Lance stuttered out, failing to look confident in his response. He leaned back nervously as Bob peered closely at his face, an anxious sound coming unbidden from his mouth._

"Lance, you are horrible with names of anyone who isn't a beautiful lady," Pidge said dryly.

"Well, why bother remembering anyone else?" Lance retorted.

"I agree," Matt said wholeheartedly, high-fiving Lance.

 _"What do you think, audience, do we believe this beautiful dumb dumb?" Bob asked the crowd, much to Lance's resigned unpleasure. A loud chorus of "no"s came from behind the camera. Lance slumped with a sulky expression as Bob moved away. "I know you're telling the truth, Lance, but just for the folks at home, let's run through the rules real quick. Now you're gonna see pictures of some of the folks you've met on your adventures around the galaxy. All you have to do is tell us their names. I'll give you a Gulian credits for each one you name correctly, adding to the points you'll need to earn your freedom. How does that sound?"_

"Gulian credit?" Cyborg asked, not quite understanding what that was.

"Don't ask," Keith sighed, "we don't know either."

 _Lance grinned, giving the host a challenging and confident look. "Sounds like we're going to be getting back to Voltron pretty soon."_

"Ahem, you were heading to the tank full of acid pretty soon," Pidge said, rolling her eyes.

"We've met a lot of people! Give me a break!"

 _"That's the spirit! But, just to make sure you don't get any help from your friends-" his expression faltered, showing some of the panic he was feeling "-let's lower the isolation shield!" A startled yelp came from Lance as a wobbly, plastic-like tube fell over the Blue Paladin from the ceiling, muffling his voice and cutting him off from the outside. "Perfect! Now let's see our first mystery face from the past!"_

 _A new screen showed up, rapidly flicking through various pictures of aliens, slowing down and hovering over a picture of Kolivan._

 _"Easy," Lance began, missing the fact that the picture had changed to another Blade member, "That's Koli-WHAT!? Who's that!?"_

"Woah, who's that? He looks cool!" Beast Boy said, staring at the member in awe.

"He's part of the Blade of Marmora," Keith explained. "A group of rebel Galrans fighters."

"Keith left to join them for a while," Shiro explained as the Titans turned back to the picture in awe before remembering Lance had to guess.

"So that's why he left?" Robin questioned.

"No, it's because he wanted his emo time."

Adam snorted, knowing that "emo time" was a thing Keith actually did enjoy to some extent.

"Lance!" Keith growled.

 _The camera moved to the Paladins, Shiro staring at Lance while chewing his bottom lip. Hunk was beside him, a look of dread on his face while Pidge stared blankly at her trapped friend, head resting on her folded arms. Keith seemed to be biting his tongue, having pulled out his Marmora blade and pointing unsubtly at it, almost glaring at the Cuban boy._

 _"He's an important figure," Bob prompted, "someone who helped you in your fight against Zarkon?"_

 _"Hmm, Keith keeps pointing at his blade…so..." Lance said aloud, looking back to the picture after finishing his scan of his team._

 _"Ooooh! That's a pretty big clue! Have you got a guess?"_

"I bet he's going to say some stupid name that sounds like 'blade,'" Raven said scornfully. Lance laughed sheepishly.

 _Lance stared nervously at Bob for a moment then turned his attention to the screen, narrowing his eyes as if to better gauge who it was. He closed his eyes and turned to Bob, his expression serious as he said in a deep tone, "Blade-" He quirked a brow, his face shifting to normal. "-y? Bladey?" he said with a small and hopeful smile._

 _The loud buzzer made him jump, his face panicked._

"Lance," Pidge moaned in disbelief, "when did we ever meet anyone named Bladey?"

"I don't know! Maybe we did and I just couldn't remember because of my dumbness!" Lance said bitterly.

 _Shiro covered his face with his hand, keeping his expression surprisingly calm as Hunk fainted next to him from disbelief. Pidge looked like she had expected it, her head still on her crossed hands with a strange face. Keith made no effort to hide his irritation, gripping his knife extra tight and his other hand clenched in a fist._

 _"Ooh! The answer is Antok!" Bob said. Meanwhile, Zarkon made a victory fist pump while Lotor and Morvak gave each other a smug high five._

 _"Oh, yeah, that guy," Lance said sheepishly, turning back to the screen._

"Yeah, that guy," Pidge mocked, whacking Lance's leg.

"What was that for?!" He protested, rubbing the wounded area.

"Your past stupidity."

 _"Kolivan's right hand man who fought valiantly for the good of the universe," Bob explained to the camera. The screen began to change again as Bob continued. "This next one is a little more personal, I think you'll remember this gal!"_

 _The pictures slowed to reveal one of the three mermaid rebels Lance had met, her face still masked by a jellyfish. "Oh, her? Yeah! That's Plax-uuhhhhhh." He cut himself off as the picture changed one last time, changing which mermaid was on screen. "Her? Uh...she was the serious one?"_

"Actually, honestly, I don't even remember who that is," Hunk confessed, rubbing the back of his head.

"See?! Hunk gets me!"

 _"That's right!" Bob encouraged, hovering closer to the transparent wall. "What was her name?"_

 _"Uh- OH! Hold on, okay!" He threw his hands up, wracking his brain with a severely concentrated face. "I know this. She was the one who…" the camera moved back to show the hopeful faces of his team "...measured my head for the jellyfish hat!" Pidge clasped her hands above her head in desperate prayer and Keith leaned forward with a hopeful smile. "She rode on a giant mantaray!"_

"Pidge, what were you doing?" Shiro asked with a small chuckle. "You look like you're in a diving position."

"It's something she does every time she watches a competition like this that she's not actively participating in," Matt explained, grinning at his sister.

"I was sending a non-religious prayer. Lance needed all the help he could get. He was hopeless," she said simply.

"Hey! I tried!"

"You didn't try hard enough," Pidge retorted. "You still ended up in the tank of acid."

"Since when was a tank of acid involved?" Cyborg asked with a loud sigh. "You keep mentioning it!"

"You'll see~" Pidge sang with a smirk.

 _"We need an answer!" Bob cut in, voice filled with anticipation._

 _"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH! Wait, was it Jelly? No! No! Shelly!" The buzzer sounded again, Lance's jaw dropping at the familiar noise._

 _"Her name was Swern."_

 _"Swern? Huh… haha... never would have come up with that."_

"Oh yeah… Swern…" Lance furrowed his brows. "That name still doesn't sound familiar to me."

"... Me too," Hunk confessed, scratching his head. "Honestly, that whole incident was kind of a blur."

"What kind of name is Swern?" Beast Boy gawked.

"Well, on Tamaran-"

"No, no! Don't worry about it!" Beast Boy said hastily, waving his hands in a dismissive manner.

 _The Galra were having a party now, with Zarkon doing a mini dance._

 _"Go Galra! Go Galra! Go Galra!" Lotor and Morvak chanted, ducking left and right in front of each other in opposite directions._

"Oh my…" Lotor hid his face in his hands in embarrassment. "I can't believe I ever did that."

"It's okay, bud." Beast Boy pat his back.

 _Shiro, who had his hands hopefully clasped in anticipation, sat frozen, grimacing with a matching expression to Keith and Pidge, who still had her hands held above her. Hunk simply sat with a dropped jaw._

 _"Your team is starting to lose faith in you, Lance," Bob said with a chuckle._

 _Lance gave them a panicked look. "I'm just… not really good with names! I-I'll get the next one."_

"Doubt it," Raven said as she rolled her eyes.

"No offense, dude, but you are really bad at this," Beast Boy said.

"It was difficult!" Lance retorted with a huff. "We've met _planets_ of people! Aliens, actually!"

 _"I hope so," Bob said. "Let's see the next face from your past!" The pictures began shifting again._

 _"Finally, a name I know," Lance sighed as the picture began to settle on Nyma. "QUIZNAK! Can you guys stop changing it at the last second!?" The picture had moved again, switching instead to Rolo. "Hmm...this guy, this guy…"_

 _"You remember," Bob said, gesturing to the picture._

 _"He faked a distress signal!" Lance said, pointing to the humanoid alien._

 _"He stole the Blue Lion?"_

 _"That too," Lance said almost like an afterthought._

"So he is the one who stole the blue kitty?" Starfire asked.

"Yes. The one I never trusted," Hunk chimed in.

"We know," the others said tiredly, glad when the Yellow Paladin didn't launch into another tangent over how suspicious Rolo was.

" _What's his name?" Bob asked, leaning forward._

 _Lance clenched his hands, not quite in fists but close as he growled, "Hooooooh, okay. It's on the tip of my tongue!"_

 _"Traveled with Nyma and Beezer?"_

 _Lance squeezed his eyes shut, holding his forehead in desperate thought. "Yeah, Pidge loved that robot." He took a deep breath, peeking one eye open to glance at his team in a cry for help. They caught on quick, spelling out the name with their arms._

"Aw, you remembered that?" Pidge cooed, grinning up at Lance.

"I mean… it's kind of hard to forget with the way you were always glued to it and like riding around on it."

"... Don't ruin the sentimental moment with your dumb remarks."

 _Shiro awkwardly craned his arms into an 'R', Hunk looped his into an 'O', Pidge cranked one arm uncomfortably into an 'L', and Keith arced his arms into another 'O.'_

 _"Nope. I got nothing," Lance said with an exhalation of breath as the buzzer sounded. The Paladins gawked before letting out a frustrated growl and shifting to spell out 'kill' instead._

"Now that," Raven said with slightly upturned lips at the 'kill,' "is understandable."

"The name was right there! How did you not get that, man?" Cyborg asked, gesturing to the screen.

"I was stressed and confused and under a lot of pressure!" Lance cried out, crossing his arms.

"All you had to do was read, Lance," Keith sighed.

"Oh, hush, you. I don't want to be hearing this from a dropout."

Keith rolled his eyes and turned back to the screen with a frown. Adam placed an arm on Keith's shoulder comfortingly.

 _"Rolo!" Bob said just as Lance repeated it a beat later. "You are terrible at this."_

 _"To be fair, we've met a lot of people!" Lance said, glaring at the crowd that kept chuckling and snickering at every wrong answer._

 _"Well, this is the last face, Lance. You finish without a single correct answer… you know what that means~"_

 _Lance quirked a brow, frowning. "No, what?"_

 _"SNICK! SNICK! SNICK! SNICK!" The audience chanted instead._

 _Morvak jumped up and down excitedly, Lotor grinned evilly with an eager fist, Haggar had a sinister smirk, and Zarkon looked very blood thirsty at that moment._

"I still cannot believe that is me," Lotor said, eyes locked on the grinning figure on screen.

"That's our Lotor," Pidge said with a sigh. "That's about as close to the real deal as it's going to get."

"I see…" Lotor said slowly. "I see why you dislike me so much."

The Paladins winced, looking guiltily at each other.

"Well, you're different, so we may act like we hate you but we really don't," Pidge said.

Lance, still bitter over what Lotor's stay at the castle had done to him, chose not to say anything. Pidge gave him a glance before sighing, already able to tell what he was thinking.

 _Lance stared questioningly and fearfully at the chanting crowd. "I can't hear what they're saying. Is-is it Snick?"_

 _"That's right!" Bob said, turning to the equally eager audience. "Miss this next question and I will be forced to hit this button-" a glowing yellow button appeared on his chair "-which will shoot you out of the studio and into the lair of the Snick. Show us the Snick, Norlox."_

 _The screen switched to a clip of a eyeless purple creature. Half its body seemed to be for its sharp toothed mouth, moving on four crab legs around its heavily armored body. It gave a loud and terrifying roar, slobber and spit flying from its jaws and teeth like a rabid wolf._

 _Lance screamed twice—once from shock and the other from pure terror—as he stumbled further away from the video, arms held close and his mouth remaining open even after his yell, a cold sweat sliding down his face._

The Titans nearly fell back from the sudden appearance, Beast Boy morphing into a startled cat and scampering off to hide under Raven's cloak. She frowned, having been the only only one aside from the Paladins to keep calm, moving him out from under her with her magic and depositing him back in his spot.

"Dude! That is messed up! What is that thing!?" the green boy asked in alarm.

"The Snick," Lance said dully, too tired to even react to the sight of the creature he was nearly fed to.

 _"Ooohoohoo, he looks hungry," Bob said casually._

 _"WHAT!?" Lance cried, pointing frantically at the creature. "NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THE SNICK!"_

 _"Well, it's in the title of the show. Garfle Warfle Snick!"_

 _"I wasn't listening to that!" Lance yelled, not even bothering to hide his obvious distress and panic as he sweat profusely. "YOU KNOW I'M THE DUMB ONE!"_

"... He admitted it," Raven said with a hint of genuine shock.

"You really panicked, didn't you?" Keith said with a smug look.

"Oh, you wipe that look off your face, Mullet!" Lance snapped, chucking a pillow at the Red Paladin who swatted it away with a small chuckle. "You try answering questions that you have failed up until now with your life on the line!"

"I'm not the dumb one," Keith retorted. "Can't relate."

"You…" Lance fumed.

 _"Well, here's your last face, dumb dumb," Bob said with a smile. "Look carefully."_

 _The crowd began to cheer and some booed but Lance whirled around and glared. "Quiet! I need to concentrate!" The pictures started sifting again._

 _Lance was sweating bullets, mouth open and making terrified noises as the picture slowed to rest on the leader of the Olkari. However, it switched again to a very familiar noodle like alien._

"Oh! It's my old stage partner-" Coran didn't get to finish as Lance's frantic voice sounded on the show.

 _"It's Bii-Boh-Bii! Bii-Boh-Bii!" Lance practically screamed, pointing rapidly at the picture and pumping his fists with a giant grin as the buzzer didn't sound, replaced by an enthusiastic "that's right!" from Bob and a much lighter and happier sound effect._

"Is that actually his name? Isn't that his language?" Robin asked.

"Dude, he just sprouts out Biis and Bohs," Lance muttered, sighing. "It's so hard trying to decipher."

"It's probably harder with your life on the line," Pidge added.

 _Shiro slumped over his stand, smiling and running his hand through his white fringe as Hunk had literal tears of joy streaming down his cheeks. Pidge had her hands in fists above her hand, a victory whoop on her face. Keith could only sigh in obvious relief._

 _"You are not going to get fed to the Snick!" Bob said with a grin as Lance struck a victory pose, soaking in the crowd's cheering this time. It quickly turned to boos that made Lance slump in defeat while Bob merely chuckled. "They are savages. Well, sorry, Zarkon, looks like you're going home!"_

 _The Galrans all slumped over, looking severely disappointed, even as Morvak was the first to recover._

 _"It was just fun being on the show!" he said happily._

 _"Shut up," Haggar hissed, causing Lotor to have to dodge the woman as she nearly flung herself closer to Morvak just before the floor opened underneath them and they were gone in a series of startled yells._

"Woah, okay, lady, give him some space," Beast Boy said as if he could calm the witch even as he grinned in amusement from her outburst.

"Take that, Haggar," Lance said triumphantly.

"I applaud you, Lance," Lotor congratulated. A beeping came from a device clipped onto his belt. He looked at it and his expression became concerned. "Excuse me," he said politely as he walked out of the room hurriedly.

 _"And now, since he's the only person in the galaxy Lance can remember," Bob said, addressing the camera. "Let's bring him out. Ladies and gentlemen, star of the hit stick com Bii-Boh-Me, the one and only Bii-Boh-Bii!" The long noodle shaped alien moved onto stage, approaching Bob who was hovering next to a still isolated Lance. "Bii-Boh, welcome back to the show, seems like you've been pretty busy since we saw you last."_

 _"Bi bie bo bie bii bo bii bii bii bii, bie bie bo bii bii!"_

 _Bob leaned back in his chair with boasting laughter as the crowd joined in. Lance stood there and looked severely confused and lost. Seeing the tears of mirth in the host's eyes, Lance placed his hands on his hips and laughed confidently along with the crowd. "Okay, Bii, you're an old pro at this. So maybe you can help this dumb dumb out." Lance glanced over at Bob with a more exasperated look._

 _"Bii bo, bo bii."_

 _"Norlox, what is our next Warfler?" Bob asked._

 _"It's the Garflater!"_

 _"Alright, now as everyone knows the Garflater is worth Vezanthulian credits, so, Lance, this could get you and your friends way on your way to freedom."_

 _"Let's do this!" Lance said with a lot more confidence than before._

 _"Of course, if you don't answer five questions correctly, you'll end up in the Garflater where you'll be slowly cooked alive!" The camera swept over the stage to a tank of boiling green, brown oil like liquid._

"Oh… there's the tank," Cyborg said faintly.

"Actually, it's not that bad," Lance said casually. "It feels like you're getting a nice exfoliation at the spa."

"That's because you were only in there for like five minutes, Lance," Pidge remarked, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.

 _"Wh-what!? Come on!"_

 _"Let's put Blazle Hooches on the board!" The screen behind the paladins changed to a familiar screen. Lance glared at Bob as he moved on to address Bii-Boh-Bii. "Bii-Boh-Bii, you're giving the clues, and remember not to say the word."_

 _"Bii-boh!"_

 _"Start the Garflater!"_

 _The dormant green mouth at the top of the tube suddenly unsheathed razor sharp teeth, clamping down and slowly shuffling its way down the tube and closer to Lance as the word appeared on the screen._

 _Bii-Boh-Bii scratched his chin for a moment before beginning. "Bii-" he gestured his hands forward as if jabbing at something "-Bii bo bii!" His hands went up to his cheeks, squishing them up before releasing and making a scooping motion with his arms and gesturing to Lance._

 _Lance stared up at the slowly inching mouth anxiously. "Um, I have no idea what's happening right now?"_

 _"Bi!" the alien said, wiggling his body in a little dance and gesturing to Lance again. "Boh!" Lance grimaced, confusion plain on his face. "Bii!"_

 _"Bii?" Lance asked, his previously clenched fist making an uncertain gesture as if to signal at something. He was surprised to hear the right answer buzzer go off and Bob's "correct"! But didn't have time to question it as a new word popped up._

"What?" Beast Boy wondered. "What is this?"

"Attempted translating."

"But it's just Biis and Bohs…"

"... Yup."

"He was actually surprisingly good at it," Shiro said with a proud look.

"I literally guessed the entire time, I have no clue how I did it," Lance said with a far off look.

"If he's not allowed to say the answer, just say what he's not saying," Matt said logically.

 _"Boh, boh-" Lance frowned, still very lost "-boh."_

 _"Bii?"_

 _"Biiii?" the alien grinned and gestured forward as if to elaborate._

 _"Bii boh?" Lance said, eyes wide and confused even as he spouted random syllables. The alien wildly pointed down. "Bii bii?" he said hopefully._

 _"That's two!" Bob said, the camera switching to the paladins again._

 _Keith and Pidge were leaning forward with matching grins while Shiro had actually somehow picked Hunk up slightly from the ground in a hug while he smiled widely. Hunk didn't even try to hold on, merely grinning and pumping his own fist._

 _"Bo?" Bii-Boh-Bii prompted._

 _"Bii!" Lance said quickly, smiling as the same affirmative buzzer sounded._

 _"Two more to go!"_

 _"Bii...boh...bo-" The buzzer sounded and the alien slapped his head to his forehead, cursing in his at himself in his same language._

 _"Oh! You can't say the word."_

 _"Bii? Boh?" the alien tried again._

 _"Boh, boh…" Lance began, looking off to the side and his voice uncertain. "Bii, boh boh...bii…" the last one he said with a shaking voice, not as sure if it was correct as with the others. He pondered for a moment with his shoulders up to his chin and his hands open as if waiting to gesture to something. "Boh." It turned into another fist pump as the correct buzzer sounded again._

 _"Final clue! Running out of time!"_

 _Lance looked fearfully up at the gurgling mouth, much much too close for comfort as Bii-Boh-Bii started again._

 _"Boh boh boh!"_

 _"Bii? Bo bii bii?"_

 _"Boh boh boh! Boh boh boh boh boh!" He flailed his noodle arms around, expression panicked and making Lance panic more and worked to spout out answers._

 _"BII BII BII! BOH! BII BOH! BOH BOH BOH! BII BII!" he yelled frantically, stopped to scream as the buzzer sounded and mouth swallowed him up. A Lance-sized lump flew up the green covered tube, sounds of a muffled yell still audible._

 _"Oooh! So close!"_

 _Shiro was still hugging Hunk, but with a disappointed face. Hunk looked betrayed, his fists frozen in midair. Pidge had to lean against the wall, a dark aura around her moping form that Keith shared, crestfallen and collapsed on his stand._

 _A muffled struggle could still be heard before the mouth spit Lance out into the fluid, making him sink with a thick splash and swim up to the top as Bob announced the answer to be "bii."_

 _"I SAID THAT!"_

 _"Give it up for Bii-Boh-Bii, everybody!" Bob said happily as the alien waved, ignoring Lance's indignant yell. Bii-Boh-Bii left with goodbyes and waves. "When we come back from the break, we'll see if Lance's fellow Paladins can get him out of the Warflater before he gets turned into hot pudding. Right after this!"_

 _This time the commercial was for Vrepit Sal's, the Galran who ran the food court at the Space Mall. He was seen holding a plate of Hunk's own creation, having been the one to upgrade the alien's food, smiling a smile that looked way too uncomfortable. It ended with the motto of "Sustenance prepared right."_

"Oh, hey, look!" Hunk exclaimed, pointing enthusiastically at the screen. "It's Sal!"

"Who is Sal?" Starfire asked with a tilt to her head.

"Sal is "salt" in Spanish," Lance said with a snicker,

"He was this guy at the food court in the Space Mall-"

"Space Mall?" Robin murmured in confusion.

"-I thought he was handing out free samples so, I kind of…" Hunk trailed off, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, "...sort of… went all out? And then I was broke so… He chained me to his kitchen and made me clean his dishes." The Titans blinked. "But it turned out okay! I realized how bad of a cook he was… well he didn't cook, per say, but he did have a broken down robot that shut down. So I filled in and I may have… gone a little overboard with the upgrades."

"You mean you went all gourmet chef on the poor alien and managed to change the entire menu of the place," Lance deadpanned.

" _You_ made that? You made alien food look like _that_?" Cyborg asked, mouth watering as he eyed the dish on screen.

"If only we had that at the hideout," Matt said, salivating at the images on screen.

"He's our universally famous cook," Shiro said with a smile and fond nudge of the Paladin's shoulder.

Hunk chuckled shyly but accepted the compliment. The Titans all held a new respect for the boy. They knew Hunk was an amazing cook but to be skilled enough to make something so disgusting look so appetizing is a superpower almost comparable to that of Beast Boy's shape shifting.

 _"And now, back to Garfle Warfle Snick!" Norlox said as they returned._

 _"Welcome back, everybody," Bob was quick to greet. "The Paladins of Voltron are trying to win their way off the show but they just lost one of their team to the Warflater! How's it going over there, Lance?"_

 _The camera moved to show said Blue Paladin floating leisurely on the liquid, his arms behind his head and his eyes contently closed. "Actually, this feels great. The goo is nice and warm and it feels like its exfoliating me!"_

"Aren't you just having a grand ol' time in the acid slowly corroding your skin," Keith drawled.

 _"Well, eventually, it'll eat through your skin." Lance no longer looked content and had a much more terrified expression. "But, let's see if one of your friends can help you out!"_

 _"Well, hello," Bob greeted Shiro, leaning with a smirk on his chair._

"Is he flirting with you?" Keith growled, his protective younger brother trait kicking in.

Adam's eyes narrowed at the screen and he snaked an arm around Shiro's waist possessively. Shiro placed a calming hand on Adam's, smiling at him reassuringly.

"He better not be," Lance agreed, rolling up his sleeves threateningly.

"Paladins, please. You will never be able to defeat Bob." Allura smiled as if the thought that they would even think about such a thing was hilarious.

"Paladins, please. We must defeat Zarkon," Pidge mocked in a regal and accented tone—obviously imitating Allura—and earned a nudge from Shiro.

"Bob is a-"

"We know, Coran!" The Paladins chorused exasperatedly.

"He's a what?" Cyborg questioned bewilderedly. No one responded.

 _"What are we doing here, Bob?" Shiro asked, concern plain on his face after seeing what the other Paladins had to go through so far and dreading what could be next._

 _"We're playing the game!" Bob responded._

 _"Please let us go," Shiro tried to reason. "The universe needs Voltron."_

 _"Well then the Paladins of Voltron are just going to have to get serious about winning this game," he said as he hovered over to Lance who was no longer lounging but floating solemnly. "Now, which one of you do you want to play to free Lance, huh? Who's the brainiest of the team?"_

 _The response was immediate, all the Paladins pointing to Pidge as even said Green Paladin raised her own hand. "Pidge!" everyone but Pidge said in sync._

"Pidge is the brainiest in the galaxy," Matt said proudly, grinning at his sister.

"You guys really didn't hesitate, did you?" Beast Boy asked with a laugh.

"It's true," Shiro said with a brotherly ruffle of Pidge's hair.

"Pidge is a child genius," Lance said tiredly. "I'm sure her IQ is around 200."

 _"Alright, little fella-" Pidge's previously calm expression turned slightly sour, "-come on out here!" She was wheeled out by the platform stuck to her, her face very much done with the show and its antics. "Norlox, tell us what the next Warfler is."_

"So you're sensitive about your height, huh?" Beast Boy waggled his eyebrows.

"Shut up, Greenie," Pidge snapped.

"Yes, she is the perfect size for scavenging through the vents," Lance said with a firm nod that turned into a yelp when he earned a kick to the side. "Oh, admit it, Pidge! You _live_ in the vents!"

"You still do that in space?" Matt asked, not even surprised.

"I never denied it," she replied, giving him another kick.

 _"It's Bank Channel!"_

 _"Hey! Miniature Golf!" Pidge said, noticing how despite the many water themed additions, the course in front of her was literally a miniature golf course._

 _"Minature what?"_

 _"This game! It's - nevermind."_

"Miniature Golf?" Lotor, having returned, asked, testing the word on his tongue. "I have never heard of such a thing."

"Oh! Oh! I have bared witness to the Tiny Golf!" Starfire waved her hand in the air, as if waiting to be called on. "It was most exciting! Although I still do not understand why I could not simply drop the ball into the hole…"

"Star, you cracked the golf course ground because you tried to throw the ball into the hole from the air," Cyborg said with a smirk.

"Was that not the goal? To get the ball into the hole?"

"That does seem rather intriguing," Lotor replied.

"That is the goal, but not...in that way," Robin said slowly, struggling to explain the concept of mini golf to the aliens.

 _"Alright, let me show you how to play here," Bob said, leaning down and picking up the golf club, a small yellow golf ball appearing at Pidge's feet. "All you have to do is hit the sphere through the bank channel-" he hit the ball, sending it ping ponging through the various wave shaped obstacles before landing into the hole "-into the tunnel. Easy." He handed the club to Pidge. "Think you can do that?"_

"Do aliens not know what golf is?" Raven questioned with slight amusement.

"I mean, they thought the toilet was a water fountain," Lance said blankly, shrugging.

"They're really technologically advanced in the important areas and not so much in less important areas," Matt said, rolling eyes.

 _"I think I can handle it," she deadpanned. Another ball appeared and Bob backed up, very elevator esque music beginning to play in the background. She hummed to herself and crouched down, eyeing the hole. She proceeded to lay closer to the ground, lining the club up with the ball and hole._

 _"Oh, very serious," Bob commented as Pidge released the club and stared at the line up she made. She stayed kneeling on the ground but placed her hands on her hips, looking behind her to where the other Paladins stood. "The hole is over there."_

"Pidge, why are you thinking so hard? You just have to hit the ball!" Beast Boy said, throwing his hands in the air.

"You'll see," Pidge hummed, smirking.

"Also, Pidge just overthinks everything," Matt said, laughing when Pidge elbowed him.

 _Pidge ignored him, picking up the club and getting to her feet. She lined up the ball and golf club, taking a few test swings and then really swung, hitting the ball of light hard. It flew and crashed into the camera, sending a spider webbing crack across the screen and startling the crowd and even the Paladins behind her. It ricocheted and hit Bob's chair, sending him spiraling with a surprised yelp and hitting the camera that promptly fell over._

 _From the skewed angle, it showed Pidge lunge forward and pin Bob down as he tried to right himself off the ground. "LET US GO, NOW!" she demanded angrily._

"Yeah!" Matt said, fist pumping, "That's my little sister!"

"You know, Pidge," Keith said mildly, "I really wanted to do that. Good job."

"Why, thank you." Pidge smiled, smugness radiating off of her person.

 _Red blaring lights flashed and Bob smiled, much to Pidge's confusion, as he glowed and suddenly a bright flash of light had all the Paladins, even Lance, standing at their respective spots with the camera fixed. "It looks like the Paladins have just made it into the final round!"_

"Wait…" Beast Boy said, looking flabbergasted, "you attacked the host… and you… weren't disqualified?"

"Don't ask us," Shiro said with his hands raised as Beast Boy looked to him for answers.

Lance snickered, nudging Hunk beside him. "Even Beast Boy looked to Space Dad for answers…"

Hunk joined him in his snickering, the two of them schooling their expression to look "natural" when Shiro looked questioningly at them.

 _"What the…" Pidge trailed off as Lance began to check himself beside her, touching his chest then his face, feeling his features all over with a blankly confused expression._

 _"Okay, I know I've said this before, many times," Hunk began, "but this is the freakiest thing I've ever seen."_

 _"One of you will now be allowed to leave the game," Bob said as he floated over. "The rest of you will be staying here with me forever." He flew away, brandishing two orange cards. "You have Blazle Hooches to write down who you want to leave on the screen in front of you. Go!"_

 _Small walls appeared between each person, blocking their view of each other's choice. Too tired to question, they all hesitantly picked up their pens, Hunk inspecting his for a moment. They all sat and pondered over their answers, Bob announcing the last few seconds they had left to make a choice. Finally, with resigned faces, they all set their pens down and the walls disappeared._

 _"Hunk, let's start with you," Bob said. "Who'd you vote for?"_

 _The screen on his stand lit up with a picture of a smiling Shiro. "Oh, well, Bob, I voted for Shiro. I figured he's such a natural leader, you know. The universe needs him more than it needs the rest of us, plain and simple," he said, looking over and giving the man a smile that he returned with a softer one._

"Aw, thank you, Hunk," Shiro said, giving his shoulder a squeeze.

 _"Shiro, who'd you vote for?"_

 _A picture of Pidge appeared on his screen. "I selected Pidge. She and her family have the best chance of rebuilding what Altea started."_

 _"Interesting," Bob said, leaning back in his chair. "Lance, who got your vote?"_

 _A picture of Keith, smiling confidently and smugly appeared on his stand. "I voted for Keith, he's our right hand man, plus he's half Galra, so, I think he's like… the future," he finished with a smile._

"What do you mean 'he's like the future?'" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well…"

"Yeah, what did you mean, Lance?" Pidge teased, elbowing the Cuban boy in the side.

"Well, maybe he could start like a revolution or something and he's like… Galra… And like, I'd follow him because he has… good instincts and… I don't know! I was trying to be sentimental!" Lance yelled in frustration.

"Jeez, thanks," Keith said flatly.

"Hey, I chose to save you!" Lance grumbled, waving a finger at him.

"Yeah, your self-proclaimed rival." Hunk snorted.

"Hunk!" Lance looked at Hunk, a look of betrayal plastered on his face.

 _"Keith, the right hand man, who do you think should make it out of here, huh?" Bob asked, the camera moving to Keith who stood with arms crossed and a scowl on his face. A picture of Lance appeared on his. "Lance? Why Lance?" Bob asked disbelievingly._

 _"I just don't want to be stuck here for eternity with Lance," he said curtly, glaring at the host._

 _"Aw, thanks, man," Lance said with a smile before Keith's words clicked. "Wait, what!?"_

"AND HERE I WAS TRYING TO BE ALL NICE AND ALL BUT THEN YOU DECIDED TO-"

"Lance, quiet down. It's way too late for you to be screaming about this now," Pidge said with a sigh.

"I CALLED HIM OUR FUTURE! AND HE CALLED ME ANNOYING!"

"It's just the harsh truth." Keith rolled his eyes and dodged the kick Lance aimed at his shin.

"Wow, thanks," Lance deadpanned, drawing his leg back to him and turning back to the screen with a scowl. "Thanks for the self-esteem booster."

 _"We're down to our very last vote. Pidge, you're the Paladin that everyone says is the smartest, the most analytical, the most logical, let's see who you voted for." A picture of Hunk appeared getting a rather exaggerated 'aw' out of the crowd who had been 'awing' for every vote thus far._

 _"Hunk!?" Bob asked in astonishment, not expecting that answer. "Seriously?"_

"What's wrong with picking Hunk?" Shiro huffed, getting bothered at Bob's astonishment. Adam made a noise of agreement. In the short time he had gotten to know the Yellow Paladin, he could tell his heart was big and in the right place.

"It's okay, Shiro-"

"No, it's not! There's nothing wrong with picking you and there was no need for such a reaction!"

Adam rubbed soothing circles on Shiro's thigh to stop Shiro's angry fit. Shiro buried his nose in Adam's neck and breathed in deeply, closing his eyes.

"Erm… Thanks, Shiro," Hunk said shyly, blushing as he rubbed the back of his neck.

 _"Yeah," Pidge said with the softest look any of the Paladins had ever seen on her face. "Hunk gets along with everybody. If anyone is going to go out into the universe and bring people together, it's Hunk." She turned to the Yellow Paladin who had his hands clasped, smiling at Pidge._

 _"Aw, thanks Pidge."_

"Aw, you aren't a total cold-hearted gremlin," Lance ribbed, laughing at Pidge's scowl.

"Oh, so someone else calls you gremlin too?" Matt asked, snickering.

 _They fist bumped in front of Lance, who smiled proudly and fondly at the two of them._

 _"No one voted for themselves," Bob said thoughtfully as he hovered towards the camera. "Everyone wanted someone else to get to leave, and every single one of you got a vote!"_

"Oh… was voting for ourselves an option?" Lance asked. "Because I totally wouldn't have saved Keith then," Lance grumbled, salty about the whole 'annoying' remark. "If I'd known he'd vote me just to get rid of me," he finished under his breath, even though they all heard it.

"And I would… still vote for you because my reason is still the same." Keith rolled his eyes at Lance's outraged shriek.

 _Lance leaned forward, glaring as the others did. "So I'm guessing we'll get fed to the Snick or something now, right?"_

 _Bob turned around, the same evil expression from the beginning of the show displayed on his face. His voice turned demonic and his eyes gave off a eerie green glow. "You all get…." his voice changed back and he brandished a wide smile "One Zanbulian credits! You win!"_

 _Confetti rained down onto the stage as the Paladins laughed and celebrated. Shiro looked on with a smile from besides Hunk who was practically squeezing the life out of Lance, although the Cuban didn't let it dampen his grin as he hugged back just as tightly. Pidge pumped her fists and whooped while Keith smiled softly and looked on with crossed arms, relief clear on his formerly tired face._

 _"That's our show, everybody! All of us here are Garfle Warfle Snick remind you to please have your Clanmurles spayed or neutered. Good night!" The screen promptly clicked off, turning the TV screen to black._

"Well that certainly was an interesting meeting you all had," Coran said. "I never met him myself, but I heard tales. Bob is an all powerful, all knowing, interdimensional being who judges the worthiness of great warriors!"

At the Titans' deadpan looks Lance nodded sympathetically. "Our reactions were exactly the same when we heard that for the first time."

* * *

"So do you understand?" the dark figure asked the five standing in front of him, staring at them intently. "I will not tolerate another failure."  
"Yes," Jinx said, bowing her head submissively. "We understand, sir."

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUN! Mysterious figure has made another appearance!**

 **If you guys couldn't tell, we had to replace Allura with Shiro (which included tweaking some lines and reactions) in the game show because well... the Lion Switch never happened. So, some canon divergence, but its fine.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed! Please leave a review, it'll be greatly appreciated. See you next time!**


	12. Chapter 12: The Beginning

**ALERT ALERT! OFFICIALLY ENTERING MINI ARC TERRITORY!**

 **Buckle up children, we about to go on a wild ride :D**

* * *

"Move aside," Jinx commanded, blasting apart a few guards with her pink hexes. Mammoth slammed into the door, causing it to fly off of its hinges and hit the opposite wall, denting it. "We heard you have a specific ore here."

Mammoth stalked towards a cowering scientist and grabbed his shoulders roughly. "Where?" he roared, covering the scientist's face in saliva.

"O-o-over there! By the lab table!" the scientist yelped, flailing as Mammoth literally tossed him aside.

"Stop making such a mess," Jinx grumbled, noticing the blood that dripped generously out from the man's now broken nose.

"It's not like we'll have to clean it up," Gizmo snickered, crawling on metallic spider legs to the ore just beyond a lock sealed door.

"Think you can get the lock open?" Jinx asked, striding over to the midget and crossing her arms as he peered at the multitude of keypads beside the lock.

"Can I get the- OF COURSE I CAN GET THE LOCK OPEN! I'm not as dumb as that oversized, crud-munching tin can!"

Jinx snickered. "Just making sure I don't mess you up with a bit of bad luck." She grinned and went to touch Gizmo's shoulder, sparks of pink on her fingertips.

"Don't you dare even-"

Jinx snickered and pulled her hand away before one of his spider legs could stab through it. "Kidding, kidding."

"Hmph," Gizmo huffed, the lock in front of them opening and revealing a glowing, light blue crystal inside. "I told you so."

Jinx smirked and reached inside.

"Not so fast!" Robin yelled, throwing a birdarang at Jinx's hand and forcing her to retract it or risk losing a finger. She clicked her tongue and glared over her shoulder.

"What the hell, bird boy," Jinx muttered, scowling as her hands glowed pink.

"Holy quiznak!" Lance yelled. "That's a Balmera crystal!"

"Where?" Hunk asked, swinging his head wildly. His eyes landed on the small, glowing crystal in the container on the pedestal in front of Jinx. "Whoa, why is that here?"

"It was probably a meteor that hit Earth," Pidge said, adjusting her glasses. "It happens back in our universe too. How do you think the Garrison became a thing?"

"Oh… that actually makes sense," Lance marveled, staring at the Balmera crystal in wonder.

"Guys, you know that the High Five are still in front of us, right?" Keith asked dryly.

"It's the Hive Five, you slug-face!" Gizmo snarled.

"Ha, you're so irrelevant that Keith forgets who you are." Lance snorted, laughing at the bald genius.

"Keith also forgot about you," Pidge pointed out. "Remember when we rescued Shiro?"

"Sh-shut up," Lance stammered, blushing and shooting Mammoth away from the crystal absentmindedly.

Cyborg snatched away Gizmo's backpack that the metal spider legs extended from and threw it to the side. "Ha, take that you little pest!"

Infuriated, Gizmo whirled around and was about to tackle the taller man when Pidge's katar wrapped around him and shocked him. She pulled him towards her and smirked triumphantly as she released him. He fell to his knees in pain and growled menacingly. To Pidge's complete and utter shock, he launched himself at her, knocking her bayard away, and they both fell to the ground, rolling around as they fought for control.

"You barf brain!" Gizmo barked as he tried to scratch Pidge's face.

"Fake gremlin," Pidge retorted, kicking him in the stomach. Gizmo remained clinging to her, however, and gripped her shoulder rather tightly.

"Pie-for-brains!"

"At least I can actually calculate Pi with my brain!"

"Wha- that's not possible!" Gizmo uttered, gobsmacked. "Pi is a random assortment of numbers!"

"Actually, it's possible to calculate it," Pidge objected, tearing his hand away from her shoulder as his grip loosened in shock, "you quiznaking quiznak."

"What is that even supposed to mean, pit sniffer?!" Gizmo yelled, managing to rake his nails across Pidge's face.

"Obviously, you overgrown flea, it's an insult!" Pidge retaliated by clamping her jaw down on Gizmo's arm.

"You pigeon brain, you can't even think of a legitimate insult!"

"... What are they doing?" Lance asked as he observed the two short geniuses wrestling on the ground.

The other Hive Five members had been rather easily defeated and now the Paladins and Titans watched as Pidge and Gizmo continued their scuffle on the ground.

"Slug-face!"

"Stick legs!"

"Should we stop them?" Lance asked Shiro.

"... yes," Shiro said as he grabbed Pidge's shirt and pulled her away from Gizmo.

Apart from the three thin scratches on her face, she was relatively unharmed. Gizmo, on the other hand, felt the full wrath of an angry Pidge with his bleeding bite wound and bruised stomach.

"Take that, dwarf face," Pidge huffed, scowling at Gizmo.

"Pidge, that's enough." Shiro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry," Pidge said sheepishly.

"Pidge, you could have easily beat him," Lance commented. "Why didn't you?"

"I…" Pidge said hesitantly, "don't know…"

"Wow, for the first time, Pidge does not know something!" Lance exclaimed sarcastically, patting Pidge on the back.

"Yeah, yeah," Pidge said warily, too tired to complain. After that verbal clash with Gizmo, she didn't feel like arguing with Lance.

"Should we take the Balmera crystal?" Hunk asked, his eyes glued to the untouched crystal innocently laying on the pedestal in the middle of the room.

"... Wouldn't that classify as stealing?" Beast Boy asked, eyeing the Paladins warily.

"I mean… it's not like they can do anything with it," Lance reasoned. "Humans don't have good enough technology."

"But still…" Cyborg said reluctantly.

"Well, we can use it for your power source," Lance wheedled, "and it's useless to them anyway."

"... Are you sure?" Cyborg asked but looked longingly at the crystal.

"Cyborg, don't get convinced to steal," Robin said, narrowing his eyes at Lance.

"Shh, it'll be fine, bird brain- oops, I mean Robin," Pidge said sheepishly; her mind was still in insult mode from Gizmo.

"Bird brain?" Robin sputtered. Beast Boy and Cyborg were in the back, fighting not to laugh, and Lance snorted as Robin turned red.

"Sorry…" Pidge walked up to the pedestal and took the crystal, slipping it into her pocket. "They don't need to know about alien species. They might aggravate some dangerous aliens."

"You-"

"Let's go back to the Tower and Hunk and I will install the Balmera crystal in you, Cyborg." Pidge was already halfway in the Green Lion as she spoke, her voice growing faint as the Lion's mouth closed around her.

Robin fumed as everyone else went into the other Lions, Starfire dragging Robin with her to head back to the Tower.

* * *

"We apologize," Jinx said with a bow, "we have failed."

"Perhaps not," the figure replied silkily, still facing the looming screen that had frozen mid video on the Paladins.

"But… we didn't get what you wanted, sir," Jinx said hesitantly, rising slowly to stare at the figure's back. "We failed our mission."

"The objective was never the ore," he explained. "That was simply an excuse for… research purposes. A bonus, if you will."

"Then couldn't you just tell us?" Gizmo said, stepping forward.

The figure smiled. "If I had told you you would not have put on such a convincing show."

* * *

Robin sat in his room, hunched over his desk with his head in his hands. Shiro entered the room and froze at the sight of him.

"Robin, are you okay?"

Robin straightened and looked at Shiro before heaving a loud sigh. "I'm fine."

Shiro gave him a guilty look. "If this is about the whole stealing the crystal thing, I apologize."

Robin shook his head. "No, it's not that."

Shiro smiled in relief and walked over to place his hand on Robin's shoulder. Channeling his Space Dad abilities, he asked, "Then what are you so worried about?"

Robin looked away for a moment. "The Hive Five."

"The Hive Five?" Shiro asked, his brows furrowing. "What about them?"

"Well… it's out of the ordinary for them to steal something like this." At Shiro's blank stare, Robin elaborated, "They usually go for money or something of the like. They never aim for research facilities unless…" Robin's eyes widened, "it's because they've been ordered to by Slade!"

"Slade?"

"Shiro, call the Paladins to the lounge, I need to tell you all something," Robin said, running out of the room.

Shiro walked out of the empty room and over to Keith's room.

He knocked and waited as Keith yelled out in frustration, "Go away, Lance! I'm not helping you apply your face mask!"

"Uh, Keith, it's me… Shiro."

Keith opened the door with a slight blush as he looked embarrassed to have yelled at Shiro. "Sorry, Shiro… I didn't-"

"It's fine," Shiro interrupted patiently, ruffling Keith's hair. "I just wanted to tell you to come to the lounge."

Keith eyed him suspiciously. "Bonding time?"

Shiro rolled his eyes. "No, Robin has an announcement." Under his breath, he added, "Though there might be bonding time tomorrow."

Not hearing the second part, Keith nodded and came out of his room. "What's the announcement?"

"Not sure," Shiro said, shrugging.

They stopped at Pidge's room. Shiro knocked and there was a lot of clanging and crashes as Pidge stumbled out of the room, a bandage on her face where Gizmo had scratched her.

"Hey," Pidge greeted, fiddling with a piece of metal in her hand.

"Pidge, we need you to-"

A dark aura appeared behind Pidge and Raven floated out of the room. She glared at Pidge. "Clean up your mess." And she floated away to the lounge.

Pidge sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and turned back to Shiro. "Sorry. Continue."

Dismissing it as a normal thing between Raven and Pidge, Shiro repeated, "Pidge, we need you to come to the lounge."

Pidge grimaced. "Bonding time?"

Shiro's eye twitched. "No."

Pidge heaved an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Okay!" she chirped, starting to walk to the lounge.

"Wait!" Shiro called out, much to Pidge and Keith's surprise.

"What?" Pidge asked, turning around in confusion.

"Take Keith with you."

Both Keith and Pidge gave Shiro a bewildered look.

"Why?" Pidge asked.

"I'm going to get Lance." Shiro motioned to Lance's door right next to them.

Pidge made a noise of realization. "Ooh! Okay!"

Keith raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with me being here?"

"No one is in the mood to hear you two fight like an old married couple—not even Shiro!" Pidge declared, laughing at Keith's glare.

She pushed Keith in the direction of the lounge, but Keith crossed his arms and refused to budge. Pidge sighed and mumbled something about Keith's stubbornness making him heavier. She grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him instead but that also did nothing. Pidge huffed and stared at an amused Shiro pleadingly.

"Keith, go with Pidge," Shiro said encouragingly, smiling at Keith's reluctant look.

"Fine." Keith sighed. He removed Pidge's hand from his arm and walked with her to the lounge.

Shaking his head at their antics, Shiro knocked on Lance's door.

"Coming!" Lance called. He appeared at the door in a bathrobe with a towel wrapped around his head and a green face mask on his face.

"Lance, come to the lounge," Shiro said evenly, too used to the sight to react.

"Bonding time?" Lance asked with a fearful look.

A vein threatened to throb out of Shiro's forehead as he pinched his nose. "No," Shiro said, gritting his teeth.

"Whew, alright. I'll be there as soon as I wipe off this mask," Lance assured, unaware of Shiro's annoyed look.

Shiro walked over to Hunk's room, composed himself, and knocked.

Hunk walked out, wrench in hand. "Oh, hey, Shiro!"

"Hunk, come to the lounge." Shiro sighed, steeling himself for the inevitable question.

"Bonding time?"

"No!" Shiro barked. Hunk flinched back in surprise and hurt. Shiro's demeanor softened and he placed a hand on Hunk's shoulder. "Sorry, Hunk. It's just that everyone has asked that today."

Hunk nodded understandingly. "Sorry," he apologized.

Shiro shook his head. "I'm sorry I yelled. Just come to the lounge."

Hunk nodded. "I just have to put Cyborg back together and I'll be there."

"What…?" Shiro asked as the door closed and Hunk walked back inside, whistling to himself. He blinked at the door for a few moments before heaving a sigh and making his way to the lounge, dragging a protesting Lance with him when the Blue Paladin was spending too much time dabbing at his damp but clean face.

* * *

The Paladins entered the lounge, curiosity turning to apprehension at the sight of the Titans. Allura and Coran had joined them along the way, taking up position behind them. Matt also got curious about the growing line of people trailing after Shiro and joined in. Robin had already gathered the Titans and had simply had to say that accursed name to get them into a more serious mindset.

"You said you had an announcement?" Shiro asked, stopping before the Titans with his chil- the Paladins coming to stand on either side of him. Adam was absent, to his surprise, but Coran assured him that he had merely retired to his room to sleep.

Robin was actually pleasantly surprised when he noticed the Paladins had more serious expressions, having read the atmosphere pretty well.

"Yes. Slade is back," he growled, the other Titans' faces hardening at his words.

"Slade?" Lance asked with crossed arms and a raised brow. "What, is he some big bad dude that actually does evil things instead of raid grocery stores or whatever?"

"Exactly," Robin replied. "He's dangerous, sly, vile, and cruel ," he hissed, "and he should never be underestimated."

"Alright, alright, he's a bad guy. Zarkon 2.0," Lance said, hands raised in surrender. Matt snickered and gave him a high five.

"More like Lotor 2.0," Pidge pitched in. Matt also gave his little sister a high five, grinning at her.

Lance nodded. "True, true."

"Guys, focus. We need to be prepared," Shiro said firmly but not unkindly. He turned back to the leader of the Titans. "Sorry, Robin, continue."

"Thank you, Shiro." Robin nodded at the Black Paladin. "Slade is a villain who has been terrorizing Jump City for years. He is worse than the Hive Five that we fought today."

"I think anyone is better than the Hive Five," Lance pointed out, snickering at the thought of Pidge and Gizmo's little wrestling match on the ground.

"Slade is… a different kind of evil. He's manipulative and intelligent, even having summoned Trigon, a reincarnation of evil itself," Robin said ominously, sending chills down the Paladins' spines.

"L-like I said," Lance stuttered, trying to play off the fear, "Lotor 2.0."

"Slade is a force to be reckoned with," Robin warned, staring at Lance intently. "He will be able to crush even the likes of you."

"And you haven't done anything about him?" Lance asked incredulously, flailing his arms.

"Did you not just hear me say that he is so powerful that no one can defeat him?" Robin shot back, slamming his hand on the table.

"Then why didn't you say anything until now?" Lance screamed hysterically.

"He's been lying low for a few months… we thought he was dead," Robin admitted. "That was our mistake."

"So what happens now that Slade is back?" Hunk asked, frowning.

"I… don't know," Robin said, looking down. "He is too unpredictable."

"... He really is Lotor 2.0," Lance marveled.

"Would you stop bringing up your grudge with Lotor?! This is serious!" Robin shouted.

"WELL GUESS WHAT?!" Lance yelled. "WE DEAL WITH THE SAME THING EVERYDAY WITH OUR LOTOR! I AM BEING SERIOUS!" He then shivered. "I hope I never say 'our Lotor' ever again."

"Er… Guys?" Hunk asked, staring at the two quarreling teens.

"Hunk, just let them yell. I mean, this is like Lance and Keith… but… with Robin," Shiro said calmly, placing a hand on Hunk's shoulder to prevent him from going in between them.

"They're really similar," Matt remarked, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Keith is Robin 2.0," Beast Boy said.

"Wait… but isn't Keith older? So wouldn't Robin be Keith 2.0?" Pidge chimed in, snickering at Keith's offended expression.

"Well, but I knew Robin first," Beast Boy reasoned. "Therefore Robin came first."

"But Keith was born first!"

"Well you guys are apparently from an alternate universe in the future so technically Keith is younger!"

"But Keith is 21!"

"But he was bo- He's not even born right now!"

"But alternate realities cause a different form of paradoxes and technically since Keith is here, Keith shouldn't exist in this world and therefore there is only one Keith and that is the old one!" Matt chimed in.

"Wha- I don't even know what you just said but I know that I'm right!"

"That means that Robin exists in our universe because he's not there right now so he's still in existence and because of parallels, he's younger than Keith!" Pidge agreed fervently, exchanging smirks with her brother.

"Can you stop calling me old?!" Keith finally burst out, silencing whatever response Beast Boy had.

"... But you're now the second oldest… you always were the second oldest… you're closer to Shiro's age more than ever." Pidge stared at Keith blankly.

"But… you don't have to repeat that I'm old!"

"... Sorry."

They all flinched and their attention was snapped back to the bickering leader and Blue Paladin when their fight seemed to intensify.

"IF YOU DON'T WANT TO TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY, I CAN HAVE YOU THROWN OUT OF THE TOWER!" Robin snapped, his patience long gone.

"I AM TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY!" Lance shot back with equal ferocity. "I KEEP BRINGING UP LOTOR AS PROOF OF WHAT WE'VE BEEN THROUGH! WE GO THROUGH THIS EVERYDAY! WE UNDERSTAND WHAT WE'RE UP AGAINST!"

"Do you really?" Robin growled.

"YES!"

"Lance!" The Cuban turned to Shiro, swallowing his remaining retort at the sharpness of the Black Paladin's tone. "That's enough," he said in a softer voice, placing a placating hand on his shoulder. After he was sure that Lance had backed down, letting Hunk be the one to soothe his anger with a few comforting words, Shiro turned to Robin with a frown. "Robin, I understand your stress. We can tell that Slade is a big deal. But trust me when I say this," he placed both his hands on the shorter male's shoulders, making direct eye contact, "we can handle it. We understand the struggle because we go up against things like this every day. Lance may seem like he doesn't take things seriously, but he does. We all do. We understand what we're up against. You're just going to have to trust us."

Robin gave Shiro an appraising look. "Alright. I will trust you because it is you that's saying this." Robin shot a final glare at Lance. He responded in kind, only being kept from lashing out by Hunk who gave his shoulder a firm squeeze.

"What do we do now?" Beast Boy asked.

"We just try and ready ourselves to face Slade," Robin said with a sigh, all previous energy from his anger leaving him.

* * *

The dark figure smiled at the screen, watching as the tall, thin Paladin argued with the leader of the Titans, their voices cracking from the stress of anger.

"It appears they believe that they have everything figured out," he said to himself, the Hive having been dismissed of their duties. He chuckled darkly. "Oh, how they are mistaken."

He moved through various clips of the Paladins and Titans that he had been observing over the course of the past few days. His plan was progressing rather nicely now that his preparations were coming to a close.

"Perhaps it is time to start phase one of my plan," he said, his eyes drifting to the detailed attack he had yet to carry out.

* * *

As the Paladins and Titans sat together in the living room in silence, a loud beep disturbed the tense air.

"Titans," Robin said commandingly, immediately snapping out of his brooding state, "there's trouble!"

"Let's go," Shiro said to the Paladins, chasing after Robin and the Titans.

"Hey, what about me?" Matt asked. He was left hanging as the Paladins and Titans disappeared through the door. He sighed. "Well, I guess I'll also take a nap..."

"Where's the signal coming from?" Keith asked, using one of the Titan communicators the Paladins borrowed. They had all piled into the Green Lion again, following the fleeting figures of the Titans while cloaked to everyone else in the city.

"The outskirts of Jump City," Robin replied. He had allowed Starfire to carry him while he tracked the signal on his own communicator, his eyes never leaving the blinking red dot of their objective.

The computer system had been unable to pinpoint the exact culprit, and Robin dreaded who it could be. A twisting feeling in his gut kept telling him something was wrong. He couldn't help but feel it was Slade, even though he dearly hoped it wasn't.

It didn't take long for the buildings of Jump city to begin to corrode, more and more run down structures appearing the closer they got to the city outskirts. Loose papers skid and fluttered across abandoned streets, disturbed by the hidden presence of the massive Lion now flying closer to the ground. Buildings rose with chunks of walls missing, their founding skeleton revealed, cracks spider webbing across what remained.

The Titans touched down in a relatively empty area, alert and ready for anything as Pidge landed her lion quietly behind them, revealing the massive vessel when she was sure there were no more prying eyes.

"Uh… there's nothing here," Beast Boy said slowly, shifting back into his human form after previously carrying Cyborg as a pterodactyl.

"Stay sharp," Robin said, narrowing his eyes in the silence and walking forward cautiously, his staff already drawn and ready.

Green let down her head and allowed the other Paladins to leave, Pidge staying behind to provide aerial support if needed. They continued forward, nothing but the sound of their feet breaking the thick and unsettling calm.

Ten minutes of careful searching and there were still no signs of any sort of scuffle or disturbance.

"Are you sure the signal came from here?" Cyborg asked, finally breaking the tension. They all paused in their search, coming to terms that maybe there was some malfunction in the system and that it had all been a false alarm. (Cyborg would never admit that his technology was flawed, however, and refused to believe that a system error had drawn them out here).

Robin looked down at his communicator of the fifteenth time since leaving the tower. He frowned as he noticed they were practically on top of the signal. "I'm sure."

"Pidge, can you see anything from above?" Shiro asked into his helmet comms, the Paladins having hurried to throw on their armor before they left.

"Sure. Give me a second," Pidge responded. The hulking figure of the Green Lion took off from somewhere far behind them, flying over and ahead of them not even a minute later.

"Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, help her out," Robin ordered, turning to face the other Titans. They nodded, Starfire taking to the sky and flying south while Raven took the to the east in the form of a large shadow raven, leaving Beast Boy to shift to a falcon and take the west.

Robin glanced down at the communicator again, his fist clenching tighter around the device.

"You think it's Slade?" Cyborg asked, walking up to Robin.

"I hope not."

Lance lowered his previously aimed blaster with a sigh. "If it is then he's taking his sweet time coming out. My arms are getting tired." He turned to Keith who stood behind him, his bayard already out and ready to slice at anything that moved. "Do you sense anything with those stupidly accurate Galra instincts of yours?"

Keith frowned. "No. Also those stupidly accurate instincts have saved us countless times!"

"Never said they didn't," Lance said with a shrug, lifting his blaster back up and taking in his surroundings with sharp eyes.

Just then, the Paladins' communicators crackled to life with Pidge's voice. "Guys I think I found something!"

"Alright, we're on our way," Shiro replied, already running with the remaining Paladins and Titans close behind him. "How far north are you?"

"Not too far. Just follow the street to the next clearing."

"Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy: Pidge found something. Report back," Robin said into his communicator, getting an affirmative a few minutes before the three Titans returned.

"What'd you find?" Hunk asked as they were approaching the site.

"I… actually don't know," Pidge replied. "I had to cloak Green again so I could get a better look but even now I can't really describe it."

"Alright, stay hidden," Shiro instructed as the Titans and Paladins moved to a stop in the narrow path between two eroded buildings. "We'll call if we need help."

"Got it." Having previously been circling the clearing, Pidge directed the Green Lion to land on the roof of a nearby building, crouching low to avoid further detection despite being cloaked.

"Alright, Robin, you're in charge. We'll follow you," Shiro whispered, his helmet visor already open below his nose so he could be heard by the Titans. The leader of the Titans nodded, signaling the others to keep quiet and trail behind him.

They slinking through the shadows of the two structures, both parties pressing against one of the walls and keeping their footsteps light. Hunk had reverted his bayard to its dormant form, the weapon too bulky to fit without making a ruckus, and Lance had his blaster aimed above Robin's crouched form, ready to fire at moment's notice.

As they neared the end of the alley, a deep voice resounded from the middle of the clearing. "At last! The final piece is complete!"

The Titans exchanged looks as they recognized the voice. The Paladins exchanged confused glances, turning their attention to Robin who motioned for them to follow as he shot out from the alley behind the unsuspecting villain.

"With this," a figure hidden mostly by the shadows held up a small shard of a blue crystal, "my weapon will finally be complete! And I can steal the energy from any energy source for miles around!" He lifted up the bronze mask off of his machine and settled it over his face, smiling as it activated.

"Who is that? Slade?" Lance hissed at Robin whose eyes were locked on the figure.

"I can't see him clearly," Robin hissed back.

"Does he sound like Slade?" Lance asked, finger still on the trigger of his blaster.

Raven grimaced. "No." She recognized that voice. "It's… him ."

"I see," Robin said with a sudden smirk. "Then that makes this a whole lot easier."

"Who is it?" Lance repeated, but Robin didn't respond, instead choosing to speak to the dark figure.

"You know, Dr. Light, for someone who's obsessed with illumination, you're not very bright," Robin said, his arms crossed with the Titans and Paladins flanking him on either side.

"Yeah, what kind of fashion is that?" Beast Boy chimed, pointing to the mask covering the man's face. "You look so stupid! It doesn't even match your outfit!"

"The Teen Titans!" Dr. Light exclaimed, ignoring Beast Boy and looking far more pleased than surprised. "I have been expecting you. I had everything planned out perfectly! You were the missing piece." His eyes landed on Shiro's glowing arm and Keith's drawn blade, having turned it into a sword so he could dual wield. "Perhaps you could be the first subjects to face the wrath of my machine!"

"What is with people and stealing Balmeran Crystals!" Hunk cried out exasperatedly, holding his now formed bayard in front of him.

"Also what was that?" Lance asked, holding back a chuckle as he turned to Robin, blaster never straying off the villain. "'You're not very bright'? That was so cringey!"

"I guess he's not Keith 2.0 after all," Pidge muttered disappointedly. "Keith would never crack a joke that bad."

"Keith doesn't crack jokes, period," Lance corrected snorting.

"Lucky," Beast Boy grumbled. "Every time we run into a familiar face Robin has to pun."

"Even if he isn't familiar... Robin puns," Raven said monotonously.

"Okay, I get it! I won't make any more jokes!" Robin said irritably, throwing his hands in the air.

"Ahem!" Dr. Light coughed obnoxiously. "Hello? I'm still here."

"Oh yeah… is he as important as Slade?" Lance asked Robin.

"Not nearly as important nor threatening," Raven answered, surprising Lance. She turned to Dr. Light, her dark energy spreading around her to create a large, threatening shape in the air.

"I-I-I will not be scared of that anymore!" Dr. Light declared, eyeing Raven nervously. "I have this!" He shook the crystal in his hand.

"Are you sure?" Raven asked, making the shape bigger.

"Y-yes!" Dr. Light began sweating, his eyes darting from side to side. After a few moments, his facade dropped and he threw the crystal down along with another piece of technology and ran. "I surrender!"

Keith eyed the fleeing villain with confused shock, his previously raised swords drifting down to his side. "So, should someone go after him… or?"

"Already on it," Pidge replied, the others hearing more than seeing the Green Lion leap off the building and land with a loud and trembling thump before the scampering man. He tripped in his footing, landing with a crash and looking left and right as he frantically stumbled back to his feet.

He was quite surprised to find a looming mechanical lion suddenly inches from his nose. "Uh… I'm sorry?"

The Green Lion roared, effectively making the man pale and go stiff, opting to fall over onto his side like a petrified goat.

Pidge smirked and leaned back in the pilot chair smugly, sharing a mental fist bump with her Lion when she gave an equally smug purr. "Mission accomplished."

"Pidge, don't you think that trick is getting a bit old?" Lance called, staring up at the head of Green Lion with a hand cupped by his mouth.

"I've only done it one other time!" Pidge defended. "And I didn't see you complaining that time."

"Well this was pointless," Raven said, landing besides Lance suddenly and causing him to jump in surprise.

"I guess it wasn't Slade after all," Robin muttered, seeming to shake off some invisible fear as his entire posture relaxed, and he straightened.

Shiro observed this with a critical eye and made a mental note to ask Robin about it later. He knew the signs of trauma when he saw it. Instead, he remarked, "Then why don't we go back to the Tower and relax for a bit?"

"Yeah!" Lance cheered. "Party in the Tower!"

"No way!" Robin immediately shot down the suggestion.

"Oh, lighten up, dude!" Beast Boy said, clapping Robin on the back. "I already have all the party stuff ready to go!"

"From when?" Robin asked suspiciously.

"PARTY TIME!" Beast Boy hollered.

Little did the others know that Dr. Light had managed to recover and scamper away with his devices in hand, too terrified to actually make any sort of comment as he escaped. He frowned to himself as he ran. He'd have to figure out a different method to bring down the Titans and their new allies.

* * *

He once again slammed his hands on his desk as he stewed. "I have failed again."

He threw the piece of technology in his hands at the wall angrily. He looked around the room for more things to throw and his eyes landed on the device he had discarded earlier.

"Ah, that's what I need to do," he purred, calming down from his previous outburst. "I just have to take some... extra precautions to ensure my success next time." He moved into the light just enough to reveal a glint of bronze on his face…

"This mask," he said with a dark chuckle, "will be the last thing the Titans and their new friends ever see."


	13. Chapter 13: Calm Before The Storm

**Ahaah... hi guys, guess who's not dead?**

 **Silver: It's YOUR FAUL-If you had just LISTENED to my advice and updated during the summer we WOULDN'T BE HERE!**

 **Rainbow: I didn't want to touch my old man of a laptop before I got a new one! I had reaassonnss T^T**

 **Silver: Yeah, but there are other ways to update! Like through the phone? You know? You could've - you could've, WENT TO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, for crying out loud! There were so many other ways to update. You could've told me and I could've updated! ... since I have all your passwords and stuff...**

 **Rainbow: rude**

 **Silver: You never did have proper grammar... You can't even spell "Desiree" right! I can't even... you didn't even google it! And you can't even give me the "Oh but back then..." because it was literally eighth grade. You can't even spell things correctly with spell check.**

 **Rainbow: *begins laughing uncontrollably in the middle without really knowing why***

 **Silver: Why are you actually dying? It isn't that funny.**

 **Rainbow: *wheezes***

 **Silver: Are you good? Are you having fun by yourself... typing out our conversation like a lonely person?**

 **Rainbow: *screeching laughter continues***

 **Silver: ... are you?**

 **Anyway... I actually FORGOT to update this chapter on Fanfic even though I did on both Quotev and AO3... so... this is REALLY late and I apologize. BUT! Since it's been so long, I'm also updating another chapter so...DOUBLE UPDATE! Ha, ha... sorry**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Back at the Tower, Beast Boy was running around as various animals, trying to put up as much party decorations as possible. Occasionally, he'd scamper up onto Lance to reach even higher places as the two of them took up the main task of preparing the atmosphere.

Hunk was in the kitchen, cooking up a storm to make all the snacks needed for the party, including Beast Boy's vegetarian option. Coran offered his assistance, and Hunk was more than happy to include him, even if he did make sure the Altean didn't start making any "Paladin Specials".

Pidge, Matt, and Cyborg were setting up the speakers to blast the music and Shiro and Adam were looking for games and activities to do.

Even Raven was pitching in a hand to set up, using her powers to levitate the heavier decorations around the room.

Keith and Robin were standing to the side just watching all this happen, not able to do anything because everyone else was already doing it.

"Aha!" Pidge yelled triumphantly as music started to blast through the speakers, drowning out even the loud clanging from the kitchen. When Raven shot a glare at her, Matt shivered and quickly motioned for her to turn it down. She sheepishly obliged, the music still loud enough to fill the air but not as deafening as it was prior.

Hunk walked out of the kitchen, arms full with stacked plates. He set them down on the table and went back into the kitchen to get everything else he prepared while Coran took to cleaning up the workspace.

Beast Boy and Lance collapsed on the couch tiredly as they finished setting up and leaned on each other, trying to catch their breath.

Shiro and Adam put all of the games they found on the floor in front of the couch, as not to hinder Hunk's feast that was already laid on the table.

Robin and Keith shuffled forward to where everyone was gathered, waiting for something to happen that would signal that the party started. They got their wish.

"PARTY TIME!" Beast Boy hollered, grabbing Lance by the shoulders and dragging him to the space cleared for the makeshift dance floor. Lance whooped and enthusiastically began dancing with him, grabbing Keith and forcing him to join.

"What are you doing?" Keith growled, shoving Lance's arm off of him.

"Come on, Mullet! Where's your inner party animal?" Lance teased, moving to the beat. "I bet you're just a bad dancer."

"I'm not!" Just to prove Lance wrong, Keith also began dancing. Lance smiled when he saw Keith take his bait and decided to up the ante a bit and pulled a few impressive dance moves. Noticing the simmering dance off, Matt jumped in as well, pulling a laugh from Lance and even a small smile from Keith as he took to more ridiculous moves.

Pidge wanted to just sit near the food and type on her laptop but Shiro stole it and refused to give it back, claiming she should be more social.

"Shiro!" Pidge whined, reaching for her laptop.

"You shouldn't just be on your laptop the whole party," Shiro chided.

Begrudgingly, Pidge began to trudge over to Raven and Robin, who were quietly discussing something to the side, but Shiro took her shoulders and turned her towards the dance floor and pushed her in that direction.

"Nope. Go dance."

Shooting Shiro a dirty look—that the man didn't notice as Adam had suddenly grabbed his arms and the two immediately began dancing where they were with equally bright grins—Pidge shuffled over to the dance floor but was intercepted by Cyborg. He grabbed Pidge, and instead of tossing her into the middle of a dance battle between Lance, Beast Boy, Matt, and an out of place Keith, like she expected, he tossed her onto his shoulders. Pidge was surprised but she soon grinned widely and let out an excited yell as they charged and interrupted Robin and Raven's quiet discussion and the ongoing dance battle.

"Ack! Pidge!" Lance yelled as the youngest Paladin stuck her tongue out at him as she and Cyborg raced by.

"Oh, come on!" Matt whined. "I was winning, Pidge!"

"We should get them back, dude," Beast Boy suggested, smirking.

"Yeah!" Lance agreed.

Beast Boy turned into a horse and Lance got on him, the two chasing Cyborg and Pidge around with revenge in mind. Matt and Keith had to leap out of the way to avoid getting trampled by the rampaging duo.

Hunk handed out a variation of alien fruit punch that Allura had found in her luggage to Starfire and was discussing recipes with her. Some of her dishes might be a good idea to make in space when they were sick and tired of space goo. Allura sat next to the two, pitching in her own ideas here and there.

"I suggest Karackle pie," Starfire said, Hunk furiously scribbling on a notepad.

"Oh! I haven't had that in decapheobs!" Allura said excitedly, clapping her hands together. "Not since I was younger, anyway," she finished, quieter.

"I have heard it goes well with that drink Nunvill, I believe?" Starfire replied, a finger placed on her chin in thought.

Allura nodded. "It does indeed."

"What's in it?" Hunk asked, finally finding a place to interject the princesses and making a mental note to try and make this for the Paladins.

"It has Karackle berries, the leaf of the Acin plant, Blakan juice, and Tamaranian spices."

Hunk nodded as he wrote down everything Starfire was saying. "And how do you make it?"

Shiro observed all of this quietly and smiled to himself. Adam had just left to get himself a glass of water as the furious dancing had worn them both out. And then Pidge jumped off of Cyborg's shoulders and tackled him.

"Hiyah!" Pidge shouted as she slammed into Shiro and pinned him to the ground.

Eyes gleaming, he grabbed a pillow from the couch and started hitting her with it. Beast Boy changed back after Lance got down and they both grinned at each other.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" Beast Boy announced, whacking Robin in the head with a pillow.

Ticked, Robin hit him back and everyone was pulled into the largest, most intense pillow fight ever. Adam and Matt took them all by surprise later by jumping in unannounced, each equipped with two pillows in each hand. Keith had tried to linger outside the fight—occasionally ducking to avoid a wayward pillow—but he wasn't left out of the fun. Especially not after Lance aimed a rather big pillow at him that hit him in the face with stunning accuracy. The Blue Paladin even had the gall to laugh at Keith's surprised expression. However, it was the Red Paladin's turn to smirk when he threw that same pillow, and whacked Lance hard enough to send the boy falling onto his back with an oof.

No one had expected Coran's timely arrival either, who had joined forces with Starfire and Allura so the three could pelt everyone else in terrifying unison. Despite his old age, the old advisor was surprisingly very skilled at parkouring over couches and deflecting pillows with one of his before countering with an attack of his own that was twice as effective.

Halfway through, Beastboy, Cyborg, Lance, Matt, and Pidge made themselves a shelter behind an overturned couch, taking turns chucking pillows over the edge and hitting unsuspecting enemies. Their biggest rival was actually Adam, Shiro, and Keith, who made a very good team. Eventually, everyone had joined one of three teams.

Beastboy, Cyborg, Lance, Matt, and Pidge had their couch fort tactic, Raven joined up with Keith, Shiro, and Adam and took to the front lines, and Robin, Hunk, Starfire, Allura, and Coran made up the final team.

At one point, Starfire, Robin, Hunk, Allura, and Coran were taken out all at once by a sudden rain of pillows—courtesy of Raven and her powers.

Despite the couch fort team's rather resilient resistance, they too fell to the skilled hands of Raven, Adam, Keith, and Shiro, leaving them ultimately victorious of the Pillow War.

Half an hour later, they paused in their fighting to eat Hunk's cooking and relax for a while, Shiro taking out Monopoly.

"Again?" Lance groaned as he landed on Pidge's property.

"That's 1,000 dollars," Pidge said smugly, holding her hand out.

To no one's surprise, Pidge won, bankrupting them all. Despite also losing, Matt still shared a triumphant high five with his baby sister, the two grinning over the others' defeated groans.

A few hours and board games later, the Titans and Paladins felt their energy wind down. They turned off the music, cleaned the mess up and bid each other good night as they retired for the night.

"Night," Lance said tiredly through a yawn. "I better apply extra face mask tonight to make up for the lack of sleep."

"Sleep well," Shiro said to the others as he and Robin walked to their room.

Everyone else left quietly, too tuckered out to say anything.

Pidge, too used to pulling all nighters, was unable to sleep no matter how tired she felt. She pulled out her laptop that she had taken back from Shiro and started typing on it. Not even realizing how much time had passed, she was startled when Raven's dark energy pushed her out of the room and the girl on the bed growled.

"If you aren't going to sleep, then go somewhere else."

Pidge sheepishly started heading to the couch. She got to the lounge and realized that the sun was actually starting to rise. She stared for a moment at the beautiful colors of the sky before noticing someone exiting the Tower.

"It can't be," Pidge whispered in shock. The long white hair was a clear indication that it was Lotor. While in any other situation Pidge would not care, she noticed him look up. In that brief moment, she noticed his eyes flash yellow, a stark difference from the good Lotor she had been around for a few weeks.

She dismissed it as a trick of the light and that her eyes were deceiving her and went to the couch. However, she still couldn't shake the image of the yellow-eyed Lotor from her mind.

"I probably imagined it," Pidge told herself, "I mean the ground is a good three stories away. I probably just… thought it was Lotor because of the mere-exposure effect…" Although her reasoning made perfect sense, like always, she still couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

* * *

"Is it done?" the dark figure asked, his back facing the lean man behind him.

"Yes," the man replied in a deep and heavily accented tone. "We shall see if everything does go as you have planned." He smirked when he noticed the man twitch at his subtle jab.

"I assure you it will," he replied evenly.

The man chuckled. "I shall believe you for now."

"You will stay by my side, yes?" the dark figure asked, turning to face the other man.

"I will offer my assistance, yes," the man replied with an easy smile. "But do not take me for a fool. I will not sit by and allow you to tell me what to do. This is mutual, as we share the same goal."

The figure narrowed his eyes. "Yes…"

"Then we shall proceed as planned. I think it is about time we had a 'discussion.'"

The dark figure turned back to his screen. "A discussion indeed," he replied pensively.

* * *

"Pidge!" Shiro cried in shock upon entering the living room. "Did you stay up all night?"

Pidge contemplated lying to him for a moment but figured he would realize and answered, "Yeah."

Matt chuckled. "Shocker." He chose to ignore Pidge who stuck her tongue out at him, focusing instead on sipping the coffee in front of him.

"Pidge, you need to sleep. It's not good for your health to stay up all night," Shiro scolded. Pidge at least had the decency to look abashed.

"Well-"

"Shiro?" Keith asked, wiping his face with a towel. Shiro's eyes narrowed. He knew that Keith had not showered but was instead wiping off sweat.

Adam raised a brow at the Red Paladin's entrance. "Apparently Keith didn't sleep either."

"Keith, how long have you been up?" Shiro asked, crossing his arms.

Keith blinked. "I'm not sure. But I've been training for about two hours."

Shiro sighed. "It's seven a.m. which means that you've been up since 5. The party ended at two- did you only get three hours of sleep ?!"

"Um…" Keith avoided eye contact. "Pidge didn't sleep at all so I think three hours isn't that bad!"

"Hey!" Pidge objected. "Don't use me as a scapegoat!"

Shiro rubbed the bridge of his nose to relieve the sudden pressure building up there. "You guys need more sleep."

"I've been sleep deprived while fighting Sendak," Pidge scoffed. "I'll be fine."

Matt and Adam shared a worried look, not really knowing what the smallest Paladin meant but not thinking it was good either.

"Pidge, that's not a good thing," Shiro said wearily. He gave up on trying to argue with her and instead said, "But as punishment, you can't skip breakfast like you usually do."

"But I'm not hungry!" Pidge protested.

"Too bad," Shiro responded flatly. "You should have thought of that before deciding to stay up all night."

At Keith's snickers, Shiro whirled around and fixed him with a stern look. "We're also not going to train today."

Keith's eyes widened. "But-"

"You guys need to take care of yourselves more!" Shiro crossed his arms, shaking his head. "Maybe this will teach you two to do so." He started walking back to his room. "At least take a nap. I'll wake you up at breakfast."

* * *

Pidge groaned as she felt someone shake her. After Shiro's lecture, she reluctantly went to Raven's room and laid on the mattress until she fell asleep. And now that she had tasted sleep, she didn't want to get up. She swatted at the hand shaking her with a muffled whine.

"Pidge," Shiro said coaxingly, "it's time for breakfast."

Pidge grunted as Shiro gently forced her to sit up. He grabbed her hand and pulled her up to her feet, steadying her as she swayed.

"Do I have to eat?" Pidge mumbled, rubbing her eyes. She would much rather sleep than eat.

"Yes," Shiro said, fixing her bedhead.

"I'll sleep if you let me skip breakfast," Pidge wheedled. Shiro rolled his eyes and started pulling her in the direction of the kitchen where the Paladins were already seated.

"Should have done that last night."

"Pidge," Lance whined, "hurry up and eat!"

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Why didn't you just eat without me?"

"Shiro told us we couldn't!" Lance said.

She spotted something in his face that she couldn't quite understand. Was it some sort of guilt? What would he feel guilty for?

"What do you mean?" Pidge asked, taking a seat.

"Shiro said that if you didn't eat, we couldn't eat," Keith explained, staring at the food longingly. When he poked at his food with his fork, Adam swatted his hand. The Red Paladin glared but made no other attempts to eat.

Pidge grimaced, feeling a bit bad for prolonging their hunger. She took a forkful of scrambled eggs that smelled delicious, as usual, and put it in her mouth. She chewed for a bit and swallowed, all the while giving Shiro a baleful look.

Shiro nodded approvingly. "Good job," he told Pidge, patting her on the back.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief and started to move to eat when all of a sudden Pidge started coughing violently and gasping for air. She clutched at her throat, clawing at it.

"Pidge?" Matt asked quietly, concern for his sister yanking him quickly from the chair.

"Pidge?" Shiro asked in alarm, grabbing a cup of water. "Here, drink this." He nudged it towards her but Pidge's eyes were squeezed shut and she was gripping the table tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"Holy-" Pidge let out a small whimper of pain, sweat beading her brow, "quiznak… it hurts."

"What hurts?" Shiro asked urgently. Matt hovered next to him, his quick paced brain suddenly coming to a halt at the situation before him.

Pidge's hand, clasped tightly around Shiro's, was shaking. "Everything," she gritted out. "I feel like I'm being melted from the inside." Feeling her start literally heating up in his arms, Shiro blanched and immediately took action.

"Lance!" The Cuban switched his wide and worried gaze to Shiro at his urgent tone. "Get the Titans, quick! I'll get Robin."

The Black Paladin's voice having snapped him from his trance, the Blue Paladin nodded and ran off, leaping over the couch to save time and scrambling out the doors and down the hall. Shiro turned to Hunk next, passing Pidge to him with instructions to keep her rapidly increasing temperature down.

Adam quickly bolted into the kitchen, willing rooted feet to move, and soaked a towel as swiftly and messily as humanly possible.

Matt was immediately by his sister's side, brushing sweat soaked bangs from her face and murmuring comforting words through his panic. He looked up pleadingly at Shiro, willing him to do something.

"Shiro, what's-" The Yellow Paladin looked down at the shivering girl in his arms with a horrified and fearful look, scared for his friend who continued to cough violently.

"Just keep her temperature down!" Shiro called, running in the same direction Lance had gone. "Keith, Matt, make sure she drinks water and try to figure out what's wrong!"

* * *

Lance nearly tripped on multiple occasions on every sharp turn in his frantic scurry to get to the nearest Titan. He burst into Cyborg's room first, catching him at a good time as the half robot had just fully gotten up.

"Woah! Lance, are you alright?" he asked, stepping forward as Lance held himself up on the door frame, panting from his frantic trip to get here.

"P-Pidge… kitchen… I don't…"

"Lance! Breathe! What's wrong?"

"Something's wrong with Pidge!" he managed. "She just started coughing and saying everything hurts and… GO ! I've got to get the others!" He didn't allow the taller male a chance to reply before he shot off again. Getting the message, Cyborg quickly made his way to the kitchen.

The Blue Paladin relayed his message in a similar fashion to each of the other Titans, sending them to the kitchen one by one. When he reached Raven, he had actually interrupted her mediation. One look at his panicked expression was enough to get her to set aside her anger and listen, understanding the urgency and whizzing through the halls to the kitchen like the others.

Lance kicked open Beast Boy's door last, taking a moment to catch his breath on the door frame for a moment before addressing the startled Titan. He raked a hand through his sweaty hair, shaking his head. Quiznak, why was he so fatigued ? He shouldn't be so drained. He had done more than this without breaking a sweat before. Was he getting lazy?

"Dude! You okay?" Beast Boy asked, hopping down from his bed and making his way to the Blue Paladin. He noticed the panic in the Cuban's eyes and tried again. "What's up? What happened?"

"It's Pidge! Quick… something's… something's wrong with her," he said, running from the room with Beast Boy hot on his heels. Half way through their run though, Lance was forced to stop, his body swaying dangerously.

"Woah! Lance!" Beast Boy skid to a halt as Lance propped himself on the wall. His breaths were coming in quick gasps, his chest rising and falling too sporadically. Sweat lined his whole face and his suddenly weak legs buckled under his weight, making him slide to the ground with a groan of pain. "Lance! What's wrong?"

"I… I don't-" he broke off with a series of harsh coughs, wheezing and unable to get enough breath into his lungs. He raised a hand to his mouth, continuing to hack into it for a while before letting it fall back onto his lap as he finally managed to draw gasps of air. Through his suddenly blurry vision he managed to notice the drops of red that dotted his palm, and, if he had the energy, he probably would've gasped in shock.

"Okay, okay…" Beast Boy tried to quell his panic, reaching down and slinging one of Lance's arms around his shoulder and raising them both to standing. "Alright, you're fine dude. We're going to go the the kitchen and- AH!"

Lance retched right then and there, spilling bile on the front of his shirt and the floor at their feet. To their horror, the bile was tinged with red and smelled of copper. He was shivering way too much in Beast Boy's grasp and the shorter boy could barely contain his growing panic at the Blue Paladin's condition.

He knew he probably shouldn't be moving too much, but he also knew that he'd only get worse without help. So with a determined gleam in his eye and a tightening of his grip, he changed into an elephant, using his trunk to place Lance on his back. Once he was sure that the Blue Paladin was secured, he turned into a cheetah and hightailed it to the kitchen, taking care to not move too fast or jostle Lance.

He tried not to worry too much, knowing it wouldn't do much good, as Lance continued to shiver, throw up, and cough the whole trip back, sweat drenching his face and making his hair stick to his forehead.

* * *

Pidge was writhing on the cold kitchen floor in agony as she felt her blood feel like fire coursing through her veins.

"How is she?" Shiro asked urgently, running back into the room, Robin on his heels. Allura and Coran also accompanied them, Coran immediately running forward to inspect the downed Paladin.

"Bad… no matter what we do, her temperature is just rising!" Hunk cried, his hands trembling in fear. Matt was frantically dabbing her forehead with a wet towel, barely able to contain his hands' shaking. Adam had run off again to rewet the other towel.

"Where are Lance and Beast Boy?" Shiro asked, surveying the room and frowning when he didn't see them.

"Right here!" Beast Boy announced, changing back into a human as he arrived and taking Lance off of his back. Much to their horror, Lance was also feverish and groaning in pain.

"What's going on?" Robin asked sharply.

"We don't know!" Keith snapped, his frustration causing him to be more volatile. "If we knew, they wouldn't be in pain!"

"Was it the food?" Hunk asked timidly. "Pidge started… hurting when she ate the eggs."

Shiro furrowed his brows. "But Lance didn't-"

"Yes he did," Keith interrupted with a snarl. "He secretly ate a piece of toast when you were getting Pidge."

"But…" Shiro stared at Hunk. "You made the food."

Matt momentarily paused, numbly accepting the second towel from Adam, even as his attention had turned to the Yellow Paladin.

Hunk's eyes filled with tears and his lips began trembling as he nodded. He couldn't speak as his throat began closing up and he started sniffling.

"Hunk, you poisoned the food?" Cyborg asked, jaw dropping.

"N-No!" Hunk cried, shaking his head vigorously. "I… I would never !"

"But-"

"L-L-Lot.." Pidge croaked from her spot on the ground. Matt turned to her with a gasp of her name. In an instant, Shiro was at her side with a cup of water. He put it to her lips for her to drink, but Pidge weakly shoved it away. "Lotor…"

"Lotor?" Shiro asked in confusion. "What about him?"

"Saw… him… leaving the… Tower."

"So?" Starfire asked, getting defensive over her old friend. "Is he not allowed to-"

"Yellow… eyes," Pidge rasped, choking on her own saliva as she went into another coughing fit, this time spitting out blood like Lance had.

"Yellow eyes?" Shiro muttered, inhaling sharply.

"What does yellow-" Robin started, brow furrowed.

"He's our Lotor?" Keith asked, frowning in realization.

Matt stared up at him in shock before his expression was taken over by anger, fists clenched at his sides. He had fought Lotor out in space, with other rebels, and was in no way ignorant of the Prince's trickery. His face immediately melted at the sight of his suffering sister, and barely managed to keep his hands to himself. Lotor was going to pay, Matt would make definite sure of it.

Allura's eyes widened before she glared off to the side, clenching her fists. She and Coran had followed the two leaders when they heard Shiro yelling and she was horrified by the scene they had stumbled upon. "He dares to… how… how DARE he!?"

"Princess," Coran said soothingly, placing a hand on her shoulder. He looked down at Pidge and Lance's shivering forms again and despite his tone, his eyes had narrowed and hardened.

The Titans all exchanged horrified looks, recalling the brief comments the Paladins had mentioned of him and Lance and Pidge's deep rooted hate for the Galran Prince.

"Apparently," Shiro said. "I don't know how he got here, but he's poisoned our food."

Coran nodded his agreement. He had immediately recognized the signs and it had taken all he had not to give into sudden rage right there.

Lance convulsed on the floor and threw up again, this time the bile redder than before. "Ack!" He grimaced, curling into a tight ball as waves of pain continued to plague him. He shivered violently, squeezing his eyes shut.

"What do we do?" Cyborg asked, watching in despair as the Paladins on the floor suffered from whatever poison they had ingested.

"Shiro?" Adam asked quietly, noticing his fiance's deep stupor. He glanced down at the two, only imagining what Shiro could be going through. He was close with the Paladins, and despite his retorts, he could see how much Shiro cared for them—as deeply as a father would.

"Why would Lotor poison them?" Shiro muttered, frowning. "And-"

"Slade," Robin growled. "I bet he has something to do with this."

"Slade? Why would he want to poison us? He's never met us!" Hunk cried hysterically, tears finally spilling from his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. Some fell on Lance's forehead, where the Yellow Paladin had pulled his head over to rest on his lap as he kneeled on the floor.

"He was probably aiming for us," Robin said, clenching his fist.

"But why would he have Lotor do it?" Shiro asked, sending a worried look at his children on the floor. As much as he wanted to help them, there wasn't anything he could do that would alleviate the pain.

"I'm not sure…" Robin muttered.

"Let's at least move them to a more comfortable place," Beast Boy suggested, uncharacteristically solemn.

Raven used her magic to levitate them steadily, taking them to Keith and Coran's room, where they could both fit on the bed comfortably.

"If only we had the cryo-pods," Coran muttered, pulling his mustache agitatedly.

Afterwards, the other Paladins and Titans returned to the lounge. Coran decided to stay behind and watch over the two sick Paladins, making sure to wet some towels and lay them on their faces in a futile attempt to lower their dangerously high temperature. Matt had followed and stayed behind as well, refusing to leave his sister's side no matter how many times Coran tried to gently urge him to leave.

"What would Slade want?" Robin all but snarled as he slammed his hand on the table.

"We don't know that it's him, Robin," Shiro said, trying to mollify the raging Titans leader. He sighed and gripped his white fringe with both hands, only releasing it when Adam gave his shoulder a squeeze, standing beside him as his silent support.

"There's no way it's anyone else!"

"All we can do is research and look for possible cures at this point." Shiro sighed. "Keith," Shiro said, looking at the Red Paladin, "can you go to the pharmacy and pick up some medicine? Maybe that will help them."

Keith nodded. "Okay."

"Do you want someone to go with you? You probably don't know the city well enough-" Cyborg's words were interrupted by Keith's held up hand.

"I'll be fine." Keith left, grabbing a Titans communicator to bring with him. "I'll call if something happens," he assured.

"It's all my fault," Hunk whispered, the guilt tearing him up inside. "I should have tasted the food while I was cooking it… then they wouldn't be poisoned!"

Shiro placed a hand on Hunk's back. "Hunk, it's not-"

"I got cocky and didn't taste the food!" Hunk wailed, placing his head in his hands and clutching his hair. "I shouldn't have just served-"

"Hunk!" Shiro said sternly. "I would not rather have you poisoned than Pidge and Lance."

"But…" Hunk whimpered.

"But nothing. This is all Lotor and Slade's doings. You shouldn't blame yourself."

"O-okay…" Still not fully convinced, Hunk sniffled and wiped away the remnants of his tears.

The touching scene was interrupted by Coran, who rushed into the room, pale and trembling. "Th-they've stopped breathing!"

* * *

Keith kicked a stray stone on the sidewalk, lost in thought. He was grateful that Shiro had let him leave on his own. He would have exploded in rage had he been in there any longer. Up ahead, he spotted the pharmacy and, with the last ounces of hope he had quickly dying, he started heading towards it.

Upon entering, a shop assistant approached him with a large smile. "Hello," she greeted amicably. "What are you looking for?"

Keith pursed his lips. He wasn't quite sure what exactly would help improve Lance and Pidge's conditions… considering they were currently poisoned.

"Hello?" The shop assistant leaned forward, her smile dimming. "Can you hear me?"

Keith's eyes flashed to her. "Yes."

"What are you looking for?" The shop assistant repeated slowly, enunciating all of her words as if she was talking to a toddler.

"I… I'm not sure," Keith answered honestly, looking awkward as she squinted at him disbelievingly.

"Then why are you here?" the shop assistant asked, her smile completely falling in favor of a scowl.

"My friends are… suffering from an unknown substance." Keith gave up on all attempts to be subtle and just told her bluntly.

"I'm sorry?" The shop assistant's eyes widened, not sure if she heard him properly.

"They ate poisoned food." Keith paused. Was that too much information to have suddenly spat out at her?

"W-what?" The shop assistant gave him a concerned look. "Did you poison them?"

"No!" Keith snapped, glaring at her. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here and they would have the antidote already!"

Having enough of this jerk's antisocial attitude, the shop assistant was about to rip him a new one when a silky voice washed over them both.

"Perhaps I can offer my services?"

* * *

 **HA! You weren't expecting that now were you?**

 **We did warn you. The mini arcs are no joke :P**


	14. Chapter 14: The Offer

**Hey, guys. This is Silver here. Rainbow is out watching a movie and she left me alone to do all the work and post everything. I guess I should pull my weight since she normally posts everything even though she said she wanted to do the posting. And I don't leave her to do all the work; we co-edit. So... sorry for the long weight but we're running out of pre-written chapters so we wanna slow down updates to stay ahead. Hopefully you guys don't always have to wait six months in between. No promises though. It's late and I was the only one who edited this one, so forgive me for any mistakes I didn't catch. Since you guys got the last update last, you'll be first to read this update! Enjoy.**

* * *

"Who are you?" Keith asked, narrowing his eyes. Something was familiar about the tall male standing in front of him, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what.

His long hair had been tied up in a messy bun, strands of hair falling from one side to frame his long, angular face. A pair of dark sunglasses rested on the bridge of his nose, contrasting from his fair skin tone and harmonizing well with the black suit he had over the navy blue dress shirt. A orange-red tie looped about his neck, tucked neatly into his buttoned suit jacket and under the folds of his shirt collar. He brushed the hair from his face, combing it to fall more neatly to the side with black gloved hands, and pushed off the wall to walk briskly over to the pair of humans. He looked every bit like a male model.

"O-oh my," the shop assistant fawned, fanning herself. "Hello… how may I help you?"

"I merely wish to talk to this young gentleman," he said, tilting his head in Keith's direction with a small smile playing on his lips. "If you would excuse us, please?"

"O-of course!" she squeaked, walking away slowly, but not taking her eyes off of the handsome man still smiling at her. She walked into a shelf and accidentally knocked off all the products, making her flush and hastily clean the mess up.

The man chuckled in amusement, flicking his long hair out of his face. "Humans are such entertaining creatures."

Keith placed his hand on his bayard, hidden in his pocket. "You're not human."

"What an intelligent observation," the man said with a mocking smirk. He quickly lost the smirk, however, at a beep from his shirt. With an irritated sigh, he gestured for Keith to follow him. "Come with me if you wish to help your friends."

"You-" Keith cursed to himself as the man left the pharmacy, having to jog to keep up with his long strides. The man took off his sunglasses and tucked them into his shirt. His yellow eyes flashed at Keith, almost blinding him with the realization of his identity. "You're Lotor!"

"Yes, that is my name," Lotor said dryly, rolling his eyes. "I would have thought you would have realized after the astute comment about my nonhuman characteristics."

"I- What do you want?" Keith asked, slightly panting from the exertion of keeping up.

"I'm… offering my assistance to someone with very similar goals." Lotor grimaced.

"And that assistance involves poisoning?!" Keith's glare bore holes into Lotor's side as he remembered Pidge and Lance's current state. He actively had to remind himself not to give in to the urge to brandish his bayard in the man's face.

"It is a part of it, yes," Lotor agreed, inclining his head. He stopped at a very familiar area. It was where Dr. Light had been defeated just a few nights ago.

"Wait…" Keith's eyes widened and he stopped, not believing his eyes. "Is your boss… Dr. Light?"

At the word 'boss,' Lotor's eyes twitched and he snapped his head to face Keith, baring his teeth. "I do not have a _boss_. I assure you, I am _not_ following orders from _anyone_. As I stated previously, I am merely offering my assistance to someone with similar goals."

"But to Dr. Light?"

"I do not know who this _Dr. Light_ you speak of is, but it is not him." Lotor's shirt pocket buzzed again and he looked at the new message that had arrived. "Ah, that's right." He tossed Keith two sugar cube-sized cubes that seemed to be made of some sort of jelly-like substance with a pink liquid in the middle. "Give these to your friends," Lotor commanded. "It is a dose of a temporary antidote to the poison."

Keith stared at the cubes apprehensively. "And why should I trust your words?"

"Because I assume that by now they've stopped breathing." Lotor gave Keith a cold, malicious smile.

Sure enough, Keith's communicator buzzed and Keith opened it to see Shiro's panicked face. "Pidge and Lance have stopped breathing! Come back quickly!"

The call ended and all Keith could do was stare numbly at the blank screen. Lotor hummed, looking smug.

"Tick, tock. Your time is running low. A few minutes longer and their brains stop functioning." He grinned, flashing pearly white teeth. " _You better hurry._ "

Keith shoved the cubes into his jacket pocket and sprinted as fast as he could back to Red and climbed in her, taking off as fast as possible and zooming to the Tower. Even though Red was the fastest Lion, Keith felt she still wasn't flying fast enough. "Just wait a little longer, Pidge and Lance," Keith muttered, his knuckles white from his tightening grip on the controls, begging Red to go faster. The Lion seemed to share his sentiments and sped up. "Just a few more seconds. Hold on for a few more seconds."

* * *

Shiro's anxious pacing was disrupted by a loud thud that seemed to resonate through the Tower. He looked out the window to see Red almost crash into the ground and a very disoriented Keith stumble out and rush into the Tower, tripping a few times in his hurry. A few moments later, the door to the top floor slammed open, and Keith, red faced and panting, ran inside, almost throwing Hunk to the side in his urgency. Allura squeaked and quickly pitched herself out of the Paladin's path seconds before he reached her.

"Woah," Shiro said, holding his hands up, trying to stop Keith's warpath, "slo-"

"Move, Shiro! I'm in a rush!" Keith literally zoomed past Shiro and a perplexed Adam at a speed almost rivalling that of Kid Flash and into the room Pidge and Lance were currently in. Seconds later, Coran was practically thrown out of the room, colliding with Matt who was nearby, and Keith was heard yelling, "Sorry!"

"What is going on?" Hunk asked, rubbing his side that had hit the wall. "I mean… I get that he's panicked, we all are, but why is he… so…" Hunk gestured at the door to make up for his lack of words.

"... I don't know…" Shiro said, just as lost for words as Hunk.

* * *

Keith, now that the initial rush of adrenaline was over, was rooted in place at the sight of his friends. Lance and Pidge were nearly blue with lack of oxygen and their eyes were clouded over like they were already gone.

At Lance's hacking cough, Keith's trance was broken and he quickly rushed to Lance and Pidge's side, fumbling with the cubes in his pocket. He dropped the cubes as he took them out and he muttered a curse, trying to catch them before they hit the ground. The door opened without Keith noticing, and Shiro and Robin walked in but froze at the sight of Keith placing some mysterious cube into Lance's mouth.

"Kei-"

"Quiet, Shiro," Keith commanded, "this is an antidote that will revive them."

Shiro closed his mouth, and, when Robin moved to say something as well, Shiro motioned for him to remain quiet.

Lance gave a moan of pain as Keith tilted his head back to force it to go down his throat. He waited until he had seen Lance swallow to move to do the same to Pidge. He froze, however, as Lance gave a yelp of pain and started violently coughing and gagging, trying to force the cube back up. Keith, after a glance back at Pidge, bolted back over to Lance and put a hand over his mouth and pinched his nose, restricting his breathing.

"Come on, Lance, you have to swallow. Come on, you can do it," Keith muttered encouragingly. After a moment, with no choice left, Lance swallowed again, his adam's apple bobbing with great effort.

Now, Pidge started whimpering in pain and gasping as her breaths became rapid, and her body began bucking. Keith ran to her side and held her shoulders down, whispering a mantra of apologies as Pidge keened and wailed in agony. It was the smallest relief that at least she didn't try to throw it back up like Lance had.

Shiro and Robin watched in fascinated horror as Pidge and Lance's noises of suffering receded. The flush in their cheeks lightened as their extremely high temperatures went down, and the creases in their foreheads smoothed as they entered a restful sleep. Keith sighed, sinking down on the edge of the bed for a few moments to calm his racing heart.

Keith motioned for Robin and Shiro to leave, stepping out after them and quietly sliding the door shut as to not disturb Pidge and Lance. Keith let out a shaky breath, all the energy from before seeming to leave him as he collapsed against the wall.

"Keith, are you okay?" Shiro asked, grasping Keith's shoulder.

"What the hell was that?" Robin burst out, crossing his arms. Despite Shiro's motions for him to remain silent, he was burning up inside with suspicion. "What was that cube you made them swallow?"

"It was an antidote from Lotor," Keith trailed off, averting his eyes. "It's a temporary dosage."

"Where'd you meet up with Lotor?" Shiro inquired, frowning. "Did you go after him?"

"No, he intercepted me in the pharmacy," Keith explained tiredly.

"Why would Lotor give you a dose of antidote?" Robin froze, an epiphany seeming to hit him. "Slade!"

"Is that your response to every suspicious thing that happens around here?" Keith asked, cocking a brow. "Slade?"

"Slade must have put him up to this!" Robin growled.

"Slade isn't behind every single evil thing that happens here!" Keith yelled. He immediately quieted down at Shiro's pointed look at the door.

Robin's face reddened in fury, and he opened his mouth before snapping it shut and storming off.

"Keith," Shiro sighed, "you shouldn't aggravate him."

"He keeps bringing up this Slade guy!" Keith muttered in frustration. "I don't even know who he's talking about!"

"Keith, you have to understand that Slade for Robin is just like Zarkon for us." Shiro tried to be strict but found he was also tired of the constant suspicion of Slade.

"I- Zarkon has never stooped as low as trying to poison people!"

"... Slade acts a lot like Lotor. I'm sure Lotor would also poison someone if it meant manipulating someone."

"Lotor _did_ poison someone. He's the one that poisoned our food…" Keith ground his teeth just thinking about the smug look on the Galran prince's face. "We should go after him and ask about his motives and threaten him for the antidote!"

"Keith, we shouldn't rush into this. We have to make a plan. Just be patient," Shiro said with a small smile at Keith's normal hot-heated nature. "Patience yields focus."

* * *

The dark figure sat, tapping his fingers on his chair. "Were you able to give the boy the antidote?"

"Yes," Lotor said, narrowing his eyes angrily. "Do not take me for an incompetent fool."

"Good." the dark figure smirked, ignoring Lotor's indignant remark. "Now to interact with the boy."

"Why are you so focused on the Red Paladin?" Lotor asked in disdain.

"He has a lot of potential," the figure muttered, "it just needs to be… brought out."

* * *

The lounge was thick with silence, housing only the Titans, Hunk, Allura, Matt, Adam, and Coran. Their heads whipped to the door as it slid open, Shiro guiding Keith in with his arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"How are they!?" Hunk was the first to his feet, his face full of a multitude of emotions ranging from grief to worry. Matt had stood up just half a second later, his mouth snapping shut as Hunk asked the very question on his mind.

"They're fine, Hunk," Shiro said in a gentle tone, guiding Keith to the couch before moving to sit beside Hunk. "Keith managed to get them a… temporary dose of the antidote."

Matt's shoulders slumped and he collapsed back on the couch with a long sigh, leaning his head back. "Thank god…" he muttered, finally able to take a moment to calm his terrified heart. Words couldn't describe how relieved and simultaneously worried he was.

Relief washed over Hunk's face, his previously tense posture melting away. He flopped back onto the couch with a sigh.

"Oh, thank the ancients!" Coran breathed, not aware he had been holding his breath.

Allura gave a relieved sigh of her own that the Titans mirrored. "But, how did Keith get the antidote? We do not even know what the poison they have is."

Keith glared at the floor, his arms and legs crossed. "Lotor gave it me…" he growled lowly. "He's working for someone. But I don't know _who_!"

"Who could he be working for?" Cyborg asked. "Isn't he a prince? Why would he work for someone?"

"He doesn't _like_ that he's working for someone," Keith explained. "But there is someone with him."

Robin leaned back pensively. "He'd have to be working for someone powerful then. Someone who would be level with his station. Someone who he deems as his equal… or as his superior."

"But if it is not Slade… then who could it be?" Starfire asked.

"Do you think it could be Brother Blood?" Cyborg asked bitterly. His robotic arm clenched and unclenched his fist.

"We haven't heard or seen from him in months," Beast Boy said.

"We could say the same thing for Slade," Raven chimed in. "It could be anyone."

"Without a proper lead we won't be able to tell who is behind all of this," Shiro said, a frown on his face from behind his clasped hands. "All we know is that Lotor is involved. We need more information."

Adam noticed Shiro wringing his hands, his prosthetic lightly creaking. He reached over and pulled the hands apart, giving the captured hand a squeeze and offering a small smile when the Black Paladin met his eyes.

Shiro smiled back, grateful that the looming cloud of guilt and despair was pushed away, even just a little bit.

"I agree with Shiro," Robin said with a nod. "We need to figure out who is behind this. Our last known lead was Lotor." He smiled as a plan formulated in his head. "So we just have to find him again."

* * *

Another rouge page skittered by, sticking onto Keith's boot. He kicked his leg to free the offending object, continuing on his way to the last place he had seen Lotor.

Keith glared at his feet, sending a stone tumbling down the road with a kick of his foot. He ran over the plan in his head one more time, replaying Shiro's voice in his head.

" _Keith will go back to where he last met Lotor," Shiro said, addressing the group sitting around him before turning to said Paladin. "You'll act like you got lost and are looking for help. This will hopefully draw Lotor or whoever is behind this to you."_

 _Keith nodded, accepting the communicator that Robin handed him and hooking it on the back of his belt. "Turn this on when you get there. We'll be listening."_

Keith stopped as he found himself in the familiar clearing as before. He pushed the memories of Lotor's parting words and malicious smile back as they tried to surface, prodding at his already barely contained anger. He heaved a sigh, mentally preparing himself for what he was going to do—then he opened his mouth.

"Oh no!" Keith cried, eyes darting around for his target as he cried out in fake exasperation. "Quiznack, it seems I'm lost! If only there were someone who could help me find my way back!" He waited with bated breath, gaze still scanning the dark streets. When he got no response, he let out a defeated huff, mentally slapping himself for how thoroughly unconvincing and stupid his display was.

It was then that he realized just how quiet everything had been. He felt his heart drop to his stomach, a faint lump forming in his throat. He could practically hear Lance's jokingly snide remark coming from the communicator at his belt, though he knew it was off.

" _Who was the one with the brilliant idea to send in Keith of all people to act? Keith is a terrible actor!"_

Keith's fists clenched; his nails would have bit into his palms had it not been for his gloves. All his previous sadness morphed into additional fuel for his anger. It was _their_ fault that Lance hadn't been the one to get Keith to snap. It was _their_ fault that Pidge hadn't made some snarky comment about Keith's more emo mood lately.

"You could have just called if you wished to talk," Lotor's voice broke into his thoughts, drawing the Red Paladin's attention to him with a flinch.

He emerged from behind a stack of crates, seemingly there for the entirety of the time Keith was making a fool of himself. No longer disguised as a human, the prince had his hair cascading in perfect waves down his back, his skin back to its original purple hue, and his suit replaced with his personalized royal armor.

Of _course_ he had disguised himself well. Why wouldn't he with his stupid Altean blood giving him stupid shifting capabilities?

Keith narrowed his eyes into a glare, moving his hand to the back of his belt and switching the communicator on, drawing his blade from its sheath directly next to it in an attempt to hide his true intentions. He spun the Luxite weapon easily in his hand, switching it into a sword with a flash of purple light and a flourish.

Lotor, oblivious to the now eavesdropping members back at the Tower, chuckled, summoning his own broadsword from the armor of his hip. "Do you wish to challenge me?" he asked sardonically, pointing the sword in Keith's direction.

"Who do you work for?" Keith asked instead, slipping into a more defensive stance.

Lotor sighed in exasperation. "I do not _work_ for anyone, I have told you this already."

"You know what I mean!" the Red Paladin snapped.

Lotor smirked, preparing to engage the belligerent boy, only to be interrupted by a beep from his own communicator latched to his amor. He frowned, bitterly fusing his sword back into his hip, much to Keith's confusion.

"I am afraid we have no time to squabble," Lotor said, motioning for Keith to put away his blade, although said Paladin refused to oblige. He didn't push, instead turning his back on the boy and walking deeper down the abandoned street. "If you wish to meet my _partner_ , then I suggest you follow me. He wishes to meet you on a more… personal level."

Keith frowned, refusing to put away his only weapon, but followed anyway. This _was_ what they wanted after all. His instincts screamed for him to turn the other way - to go back - but he couldn't turn back now, not when they were given the opportunity to learn the identity of whoever dared touch Keith's fellow teammates.

* * *

"Hello, Keith," the dark figure simpered, skulking out of the shadows. "I have been wanting to meet you for quite some time."

Keith stared at the bronze and black mask blankly. "Who are you?" He gripped his knife, readying himself to attack if necessary.

"I am Slade. I am sure Robin has mentioned me before." Slade's lone eye widened in what seemed to be amusement, a grin lurking behind his mask.

"Slade…" Keith echoed, practically feeling the fury radiating from the Titans communicator. "You're the one who sent Lotor to poison us?!" He snarled, gripping his knife tightly.

"I never intended to poison you, Keith," Slade purred, slinking closer.

"You sent Lotor to poison our food!" Keith yelled, the muscles in his neck tensing. "What do you mean you didn't intend to poison us?!"

"I never meant to poison _you_ , Keith," Slade elaborated, beginning to circle Keith predatorily. "I do not care for the others."

"Give me the antidote!" Keith demanded, drawing his knife and posing the blade at Slade.

"Tut, tut, such an eager boy."

It may have been his imagination, but Keith swore Slade was getting closer to him.

"I have a deal for you," Slade began, closing in all of a sudden. "Although I'd hate to have an audience," he hissed in Keith's ear. The Red Paladin jumped, whirling around to slash at the man who had somehow managed to nearly apparate behind him, but he wasn't quick enough.

Slade hopped away gracefully with a dark chuckle, the communicator clutched in his gloved hand. Keith's eyes widened, tracking the man's movements as he walked in front of him again. "Did you really think I wouldn't notice? It would not be the first time Robin has attempted to fool me with that trick."

"Give it back," Keith growled.

"You have so much to learn," Slade mused, ignoring the boy's demand. He clenched his fist tighter, the communicator straining under the pressure before shattering. He opened his hand and brushed off the pieces of wire and metal carelessly. "Now we may discuss our deal in peace."

"What do you want?" Keith asked through gritted teeth, tightening his grip on his sword in an attempt to hold himself back.

"I want _you_ , Keith," he said, his pupil shrinking with his widening eye, glimmering with a hint of madness. "I've been looking for someone, you see," he went on to explain. "Someone I can pass my knowledge down to. Someone I can take under my wing. An… apprentice, of sorts." An apprentice like Keith would aid Slade greatly. He could already see that, with a little refining, Keith would excel under his tutelage. An unstoppable killing machine. A more perfect apprentice than even Robin could ever be.

"What makes you think I'd _ever_ help you?"

"Oh it's simple, really," he said with a shrug. "You have no choice."

"Not interested," Keith hissed, turning to leave. "Find someone else."

"You do realize that by walking away from me... you're walking away from the only person that can save your precious _friends_." Slade spat out the last word hatefully, his tone dripping with disgust. Friends: the fools that had ruined his prior apprentice. He will not make the same mistake again. Whether it be by the poison or other means, those precious _friends_ of his would disappear. Every single one. Including the Teen Titans.

Slade chuckled darkly as Keith stopped cold, turning to look at him. He almost smiled at the pure and utter rage filling Keith's eyes. _This_ is what made Keith the perfect candidate. The pure, raw, unadulterated hatred that was radiating off of Keith made Slade long to see him on the battlefield.

"That's right… the only way you will get this antidote," Slade taunted, reaching into his belt to take out a small bottle, "is by becoming my apprentice." He smirked at the conflicted anguish in Keith's eyes. "I'll give you a while to think about it. Just contact Lotor when you are ready to tell me your choice."

Keith grit his teeth and glared at the ground in frustration.

"Ah, but I do advise you make your decision soon," Slade said slyly. "Your friends are on death's door, after all."

"How do I know you'll cure my friends if I become your apprentice?" Keith asked, his shoulders slumping in resignation.

"I won't," Slade smirked, "I will only give you temporary doses until you swear complete loyalty to me."

"I will…" Keith bit his tongue, the word 'never' on the tip. "I will… think about it."

"Good," Slade praised, motioning something at Lotor.

All Keith was able to do was turn to scowl before Lotor struck him in the back of the neck and everything went black.

* * *

" _I have a deal for you,"_ Slade's voice crackled through the communicator. Robin exchanged a worried look with Shiro, both of them leaning forward with their eyes trained on the red audio waves displayed on the wide screen.

Robin had begun grinding his teeth, hissing an "I knew it" under his breath when it was revealed who had been behind all of this. He had also not missed the way Allura had clenched her fists, poorly disguising the pain that swirled in her eyes at hearing Lotor's voice.

" _Although I'd hate to have an audience."_

Robin's eyes widened; they'd been caught. "Cyborg! Try to keep the connection before Slade shuts it off!"

"How!?" Cyborg asked, already running over to the computer. Matt rushed over to help with a determined gleam in his eye, desperate to do anything that could help his sick sister.

"I don't know! Do _something_!"

"What if you tried to copy the connection to one of the other communicators?" Hunk chimed in, picking up on the leader's panic.

"Link the two?" Matt muttered, the more analytical part of his mind finally kicking into gear. He looked up, meeting Cyborg's wide gaze. "That could work."

"That's genius, Hunk!" Cyborg cried out in praise, fingers flying to follow his instructions.

"Pidge would have came up with the idea first," Hunk mumbled despairingly under his breath. It wouldn't have even taken her a second to be able to come up with a solution.

Starfire, having been the only one to hear as she was directly next to him, placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, offering a gentle smile.

Slade's voice cut through Cyborg and Matt's furious typing, a dark chuckle shaking the jumping lines of the audio. " _Did you really think I wouldn't notice? It would not be the first time Robin has attempted to fool me with that trick."_

Robin resisted the urge to slam his fists onto the computer control table. He should've _known_! He was so _stupid_! "Cyborg, how long until the signal is isolated?"

"46%!"

" _Give it back,"_ Keith growled over the communicator line.

"68%!"

" _You have so much to learn."_

Robin's eyes widened, panic welling heavily in his chest as the line spiked, the connection dropping in and out of static as Slade no doubt began to crush the device. "Cyborg!"

"92%! Almost there!"

The audio waves flat lined, absolute silence giving way to Robin's yell of anguish. "NO!"

Matt slammed his hands down on the computer keys in frustration, tears threatening to cloud his vision. He had been so close. His fists clenched. If he only had a few more seconds… his resolved hardened at that moment; this Slade person would pay for harming _his_ baby sister.

Robin growled in frustration before throwing his fists down, defeat thick in the air. He looked up as Shiro drew in a shaky breath, his eyes wide and fearful as they refused to look away from the motionless audio line. His prosthetic hand clenched into a fist next to Robin's, glowing a faint purple as it always seemed to do when he was distressed.

"Keith…" he whispered weakly, his voice cracking with his rapidly beating heart. Adam stared at the same screen, something dark in his eyes as he clenched his hands into similar fists. He had grown closer to Keith within the limited time he knew him, growing almost as fond of him as Shiro was.

Speaking of, Adam switched his gaze over to Shiro. The man had yet to look away from the screen, staring with glossy, pained eyes. Adam inhaled a silent gasp, concern washing away his anger. He rarely ever saw that look on Shiro's face. He silently slipped his arms around the Paladin's shoulders, the man leaning gratefully into his fiance's embrace. Shiro slumped against Adam's chest, all the energy draining out of him and making him appear years older than he was. Adam swore that he saw the white laced in Shiro's hair spread.

"I was so close!" Cyborg cried out, slumping against the controls he had previously been mashing. "And now Keith… we don't know what Slade will do to him! We have no way of knowing now!"

Matt wasn't paying attention, his focus entirely on the panel in front of him as he continued typing away. Maybe, if he tried hard enough, he could revive the connection. If he revived the connection, he might be able to save Pidge. His eyes hardened and he growled under his breath, refusing to give into the creeping hopelessness. However, deep down, he knew it was no use. Pidge would have been able to do it, he despaired. His little sister was truly a tech whiz. No one could compare. There was nothing she couldn't do. If only Matt had her skill right now.

"Friends," Starfire said gently, floating forward. "Do not despair. Friend Keith will come back to us…"

"He's strong, he can manage to keep himself alive," Raven said monotonously, but her furrowed brow gave away her worry.

Allura, stepping forward from her place next to Beast Boy, placed her hand on Matt's shoulder. He started, pausing in his furious attempts and looking up at her face, his own gaze looking lost and scared. "I swear on my father's grave," she began in a dangerous tone, "if Slade dares to hurt Keith, he _will_ pay dearly. That I can swear." She drew away from him, allowing him room to trudge back to the couch. "He's already messed with Pidge and Lance, I refuse to allow him to do any further harm to my Paladins!"

Shiro placed his hand on her shoulder, firmly squeezing it but his eyes never leaving the screen.

"Shiro."

The Black Paladin tore his gaze away from the screen, fixing his still wide eyes on his fellow leader. Robin had never seen him look so vulnerable, the fear clouding his normally gentle charcoal eyes and his chest visibly rising and falling a little too fast. He hardened his gaze and poured extra determination into his tone, his mouth pressed in a thin line. "We _will_ get Keith back."

Shiro nodded numbly, taking a few deep breaths. "Yeah… yeah, I... trust him. He'll… he'll be okay."

The doors sliding open drew the attention of the occupants of the room, not expecting anyone aside from Coran who had been overseeing the two sick Paladins. They were very surprised when they saw none other than Lance stumble into the lounge, his shirt sticking to him due to the large amounts of sweat that trickled off his body. He had a bit of his natural flush back, although that could have been his fever, but he was still far too pale and had to brace himself on the wall, his feet tripping over themselves and his legs buckling under the weight of his swaying body.

"Lance!" Shiro quickly ran over to the Blue Paladin, scooping his hands under the boy's arms as his legs finally gave out and his body pitched forward. "What… what are you doing out of bed?" he asked, looking over the Cuban and struggling to wrap his mind around how he was possibly standing. Well, sort of standing.

Lance took a few gasping breaths, his fingers digging into Shiro's vest as he tried to get his feet back under him and pull himself up. He rose his head to meet Shiro's terrified and worried gaze, coughing a few times before offering a shaky smile.

"Is Space D-Dad worried a-about l-l-little old… Lancey L-lance?" he managed to rasp, diving into a fresh wave of harsh coughs that had him resting his forehead against the man's chest, hoping to stay upright.

The very _Lance-like_ comment froze any words Shiro may have had in his throat, realizing just how much he had missed Lance's lighthearted touch to even the worst situations. A rather wet cough that had Lance nearly choking on his own saliva—or dare he say it, possibly _blood_ —was what finally kicked his distraught brain back into gear. "You shouldn't be walking around," he whispered gently, struggling to keep his anguish out of his voice.

"I'm s-sure… I c-can just… walk it off," he croaked with a shaky grin that faltered as a shiver wracked his body. The tiny bit of strength he had back in his legs drained away and he slumped to the floor, Shiro sinking down to his knees with him, his arms never leaving the lean and shaking form.

Shiro's arms tightened around the Blue Paladin, enclosing him in a hug as the only means of comfort he could offer, while Lance trembled with the exertion of his vigorous coughs, flakes of blood splattering on his lips.

Pidge stumbled into the room after Lance, croaking out curses in between each round of coughs. Shiro didn't have the heart to scold her on her foul language and frankly he didn't care at the moment. Just seeing them up and not lifeless on the beds was enough for now.

Matt twitched, about to run over from the couch but was stopped by a hand from Allura. One look back at the Black Paladin and Matt understood why she had stopped him. Shiro needed this, maybe even a little more than he did. Though he would be the first to hug Pidge afterwards.

Due to her smaller body being a lot weaker than Lance's, she couldn't hold up her weight for as long, nearly tumbling into Shiro's free arm that caught her around the waist.

He carefully shifted Lance to make room for Pidge and pressed them both firmly against his chest, burying his face into their connected shoulders.

"Sh-Shiro…?" Pidge croaked, raising her head weakly from its tucked position against his neck.

"I'm so sorry…" he whispered, his shoulders shaking as he fought back tears. "I am so, so sorry…"

"It's… it's not y-your fault," Lance said, his voice weak and coming out more as an exhalation of breath, his head resting on Shiro's shoulder with his eyes half-lidded.

"Y-you… didn't do anything… w-w-wrong," Pidge chimed in, pushing her head back into its spot in her weak form of comfort.

Shiro chuckled without mirth, lifting his head the tiniest bit and tightening his grip around the two sick Paladins. ' _I wish that were true,'_ he thought bitterly.

His chuckle cut off into a choked sob, tears trailing down his cheeks. He buried his face into the two sick Paladins' shoulders, tightening his grip and his whole body shivering with fresh cries.

"Friend Shiro?" Starfire asked, approaching the crouched trio slowly, the other Titans and fellow Castle dwellers trailing behind. "Are you alright?"

Shiro was saved from responding as Coran rushed into the room, his eyes blown wide with panic. He nearly tripped over the three on the floor, Shiro having never rose up from the ground and had simply knelt with his suffering children tucked safely in his arms. If only they were truly safe.

The advisor let out a sigh of relief, his features softening at the sight. "Found you two…"

Pidge managed to suck in a few shaky gasps before shooting a frown in Lance's direction. "Y-you said Sh-Shiro… would h-hide us. T-t-told you we'd g-get… caught."

Lance grinned, too weak to lift his head, his breaths still coming in short spurts. "S-seems like… i-it, g-gremlin."

"You two really shouldn't be moving around," Shiro reprimanded softly, rising slowly to his feet and dragging them up cautiously as well. "You'll make yourselves worse."

"I f-feel… b-b-better already!" Lance proclaimed, forcing energy into his voice with great effort. It hadn't been all that long since the dosage had been administered, and it had yet to take full effect.

"Q-q-quiznak, Lance," Pidge forced out with a scowl. "It f-feels like… m-my blood is molten l-lava! H-how… are y-you feeling… _better_?"

"The c-comfort… of S-Space Dad… i-is all I n-need," Lance replied after he finished another fit of coughing, his eyes closing and a small smile tugging at his lips.

Silence—save for the rugged gasps and coughs of Lance and Pidge—fell over the room as his words sank in. Shiro felt a fresh lump form in his throat, stubbornly staying put no matter how many times he tried to swallow it.

"Wh-where's K-Keith?" Pidge finally asked, eyebrows furrowing as she couldn't locate the Red Paladin. No one had the heart to respond, Shiro tensing at the question and having to fight even harder against the growing lump. "Shiro?" she prompted, her voice cracking from a mix of pain and fear.

"He's-"

Just then, a loud roar shook the Tower, all heads whipping towards the windows as a red blur whizzed by, a resounding thump echoing as it no doubt landed. Beast Boy was the first to the glass, peering down with wide eyes.

"It's the Red Lion!" he called over his shoulder. Another roar thundered from the ground, distress clear in her tone.

Shiro gently maneuvered Lance and Pidge into Coran's arms, reluctant to disentangle their fingers from the fabric of his vest. "Take them back to the room to rest. We'll check in shortly!"

Coran gave a nod and carefully led the two Paladins back to their bed, Matt following to have a moment with his sister, leaving Shiro to join the others by the window. Red was seen pacing impatiently by the shore of the water, giant mechanical paw prints embedded in the dirt from her rough landing. Realizing she had an audience, she let out yet another roar, her long tail flicking left and right in irritation.

"Why is the red kitty acting like that?" Starfire asked, tilting her head with furrowed brows.

"It means something's happened to Keith," Shiro answered, turning the other way and rushing out of the tower.

Red paused in her pacing as Shiro approached. She crouched low to the ground and opened her jaws to allow him to run up the ramp. He hurried into the cockpit, freezing as he spotted Keith sprawled on his side just behind the pilot's chair. His hair fell in messy waves into his face as if he'd been dumped unceremoniously on the metallic floor.

Pushing aside his anger at the state the boy was in, he scooped him up gingerly in his arms, ignoring how limply his body hung. He was still breathing. He rushed out of the Red Lion, careful not to jostle the boy too much as he made his way back into the lounge. Satisfied, now that her cub had been placed in safe hands, Red flew off to join her siblings who sat parked beside the Tower.

* * *

"Ke-" a hacking cough, "Kei-" cough, "Keit-" cough, "oh my quiznaking-" cough, " _Keith_! Fina-" cough, "...lly."

Keith groaned at the very familiar and very annoying voice disturbing his rest. "Lance, shut u-" Keith's eyes snapped open, and he sat up so quickly nearly collided heads with Lance. "Lance?!"

"Hey, my-" cough, "head hurts… don't… yell." Lance, still pale and sweating, grinned at him weakly.

Keith's eyes were wide, and he looked Lance up and down just to make sure he was actually there and standing right in front of him. "You're awake?" he asked, astonished.

"Yup… and before… you, too," Lance joked, attempting to nudge Keith, but he found he couldn't quite find the strength to bend his elbow. Keith watched the attempt at a nudge with a mixture of amused pity and actual sadness as Lance eventually just let his arm fall back to his side limply.

"Where's Pidge? Is she still asleep?" Keith questioned, whirling his head around, looking for the small girl. When he didn't see her, his happiness faded a bit but not too much as Lance was still awake, after all.

"No," Lance paused to take in a breath, "she's… with Shiro… I think." Lance's entire body shook with the force of his coughs as he leaned against the bed limply.

Keith immediately got out of the bed and stumbled all the way to the door, nearly smacking his skull on the wall in his frenzy to get out of the room. He skid to a stop, however, when he looked back and saw Lance struggling to get up and follow him. Keith went back, grabbed Lance gingerly by the elbow and started hurriedly walking back to the door, taking care not to pull on Lance's arm too much.

"Keith… you really don't-"

"Of course I have to take you, Lance," Keith interrupted, already knowing what was about to come out of Lance's mouth. The Blue Paladin obviously had some stupid insecurities that needed to be vanquished right now. "You're not going to be left behind."

Lance's eyes softened, and he felt the sting of tears that he quickly blinked back as he leaned into Keith's hold a bit more. "Thanks, Keith." Keith smiled awkwardly, unable to formulate a proper verbal response and just kept walking, slowing down at sharper turns.

As Keith rounded the last corner to the lounge, he spotted a familiar mess of brown hair sitting on the couch. He quickened his pace, making a short stop to gently lead Lance to a nearby chair, beginning to run to the couch and nearly barreling right into it.

"Keith…?" Pidge questioned, looking at the mass of red in front of her. Keith blinked up at her from the ground and jumped up to his feet, examining her as he similarly did to Lance. Just to make sure that she was also not some sort of dream or a hallucination and he was not going to wake up without either of them. "Hell-" Pidge coughed into her shirt, "...o?" Pidge grumbled, waving a hand in front of Keith's blank stare.

Keith bowed his head to hide his face and the flurry of thoughts running through his head. Pidge placed a gentle hand on his head, not really able to do much more than that. After a moment, he finally looked up with an unreadable expression on his face. "Did the temporary dose of antidote cure you this much?"

Pidge blinked, confused as to why he was asking her this, and nodded. "Yeah… otherwise Lance and I… would probably still… be in a coma…" Pidge grimaced as she placed her hand on her chest, as if grabbing at her heart, and wheezed. Keith enclosed the small hand on top of his head with his own hand and clutched it tightly, wanting a physical reminder that she was actually still in front of him awake and not in a poison-induced coma.

Keith nodded solemnly. "I see."

"But don't… do anything reckless… just to cure us," Pidge scolded, none of the words having any actual bite to them because of her weak voice, "you hear?" Keith wanted to desperately pretend he didn't hear her words but found that he couldn't muster the will to, instead deciding to avoid her gaze guiltily.

Keith blinked at her. "... I… want to cure you," he said, deflecting her harsh stare. He didn't want to lie straight to her face. After all, there was little to no doubt in his mind about the apprenticeship. His mind was already made.

"But don't be…" Pidge sniffled, "an idiot." Eventually, she gave up on sniffling and just grumpily grabbed a tissue, blowing harshly into it.

Keith smiled in amusement. "Of course, that's Lance's job."

"Hey!" Lance protested from his slumped position in the chair. He would have thrown something at Keith, but, no matter how accurate his aim was, he knew he would not be able to throw anything far enough to even touch Keith, who was only five feet away.

"You're both idiots," Pidge grumbled. She groaned and grabbed a bucket right by her feet to retch into it, her small body shaking with each heave. Keith closed his eyes, not wanting to look at the pain Pidge was suffering, but opened them again in order to hold and support her frail body still clinging to the bucket.

"Are you okay?" Keith asked, rubbing her back soothingly as Pidge's stomach tried to crawl up her throat. Keith ignored the horrible smell. The smell must be nothing compared to the undeniable burning sensation in Pidge's throat from the continuous exposure to stomach acid. Just thinking about what she was going through made bile rise in _his_ throat.

"No," Pidge groaned. "Being poisoned sucks…" She coughed violently. Ouch. A knife dug into Keith's chest and twisted with every noise of discomfort Pidge or Lance uttered.

"Yes, it does," Lance agreed, leaning his forehead against the cool counter to cool himself down. His temperature was rising again despite the AC being on full blast in the lounge. Shiro had insisted on it after he and Pidge woke up in order to lower their high temperatures to less extremes.

"I'll get you guys the antidote," Keith vowed, looking at them both grimly. "You won't have to suffer for long." A cynical voice in Keith's head argued that they would be in pain for a very long time because he knew that he would never truly fully submit to Slade's whims. He would never get the actual antidote for them and they would be stuck on temporary doses that did not fully cure them. Until Slade's "generosity" ran out, and they… well, he didn't want to think about it.

Shiro appeared behind Keith and, with a strained smile, grabbed his arm. "Keith, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Keith's eyes darkened as he looked up at Shiro. They both knew the thoughts running through Keith's head and the decision he was about to make. "Okay."

Shiro dragged Keith over to an empty hallway right by his and Robin's room.

"What happened?"


	15. Chapter 15: Brewing Tensions

**Hey guys... So how long has it been? 8 months? Yeah? Oops. So this is Silver here updating since apparently Rainbow decided to leave out fanfiction once more from her updating spree. Since this Corona is quarantining everyone, we figured we might as well entertain people a little. So this is a rather short chapter... Hey, don't worry though. There'll be a special update coming soon ;)**

* * *

"What happened?" Shiro grabbed Keith by the shoulders and held him there as he stared directly into his eyes, his own filled with a swirl of fear and anxiety.

"It's… complicated." Keith averted his eyes. "I'll explain when everyone's in the lounge."

"Hey…?" Lance had stumbled all the way over to where they were, a red flush beginning to appear in his cheeks again. "Shiro? Keith? Why are you…" Lance's words trailed off as he noticed their position and Shiro's distressed stance.

"Lance? What are you doing here?" Shiro asked, letting go of Keith. He stepped away from Keith, noticing the hand-shaped indents in Keith's clothes, and looked down, guiltily at how tightly he had grasped him.

"I…" Lance's eyes darted between the two of them, still not completely sure of what was going on. "Robin wanted… you guys… in the lounge."

Keith rubbed his arm almost absentmindedly, missing Shiro's wince. "Okay."

Lance's suspicious gaze didn't leave them as he waited for them to start moving to the lounge to limp alongside them.

"Sorry, Keith," Shiro whispered. Keith stopped rubbing his arm when he realized Shiro's gaze was locked on it, his dark eyes brimming with feelings of shame.

"It's okay," Keith said back quietly. "It isn't as bad as it looks."

"What are you two whispering about?" Lance asked loudly, popping his head between the two of them as best as he could, some of his normal cheeky energy back.

"Nothing that concerns you," Keith bantered back but without any bite to his words. He was grateful for Lance's usual antics. It had been so long since Lance had done anything except thrash on his bed that he had even begun to miss the inconsiderate remarks Lance sometimes stupidly sprouted out.

"Sheesh, you don't have to be so cold, Keith," Lance said, slinging his arm around Keith's shoulder.

Shiro, having suddenly realized why they were heading back to the lounge, stopped abruptly, causing Keith and Lance to bump into his back. Shiro turned to Lance apologetically. "Lance, maybe it's better for you to go back to your room… you should be resting."

"But I feel so much better!"

"But you could relapse at any time and it's best for you to keep your strength up," Shiro said gently, directing Lance back to his room where Pidge was already on the bed, doing something on her computer. Matt sat next to her, discussing technical things with her in an effort to make both of them feel better and normal. He looked up at the new arrivals, leaving with an apology to Pidge at Shiro's pointed look over the Blue Paladin's head.

"But-"

"Rest, Lance," Shiro said sternly before shutting the door and even hesitantly locking it. Lance, hearing the click of the door lock, hobbled over to the door and frantically began banging on it.

"Shiro? Shiro!" Lance yelled desperately. Pidge looked up in confusion as Lance continued slamming his fists against the door with the limited strength he had. "Shiro, what the quiznak?! Open the door! Shiro!"

Hearing no response and also out of strength, Lance slumped against the door, pressing his forehead to it, his body shaking. Pidge wasn't sure if he was sobbing or his body was quivering from the sudden surge of energy that left him depleted.

"Lance?" Pidge threw her precious laptop to the side uncaringly and walked over to him in concern. "Lance, what's going on?"

"Shiro locked us in," Lance said, voice hard. He sniffled, unsure if it was from his current state of sadness or a symptom of the poison.

"What? Why?" Pidge asked in disbelief, going to the doorknob and checking herself to see if it was locked. It was.

"They're having some sort of conversation they don't want us to hear," Lance said bitterly, his head resting on the arm hugging his knees.

"What- I'm going to go eavesdrop," Pidge announced, confidently striding over to their bed. "I'll record and bring it back to you."

"Uh… how are you going to eavesdrop? The doors are-" he was cut off as Pidge took a screwdriver she pulled out of nowhere and climbed onto the bed, beginning to unscrew the screws holding the air vent.

"The air vents," Pidge stated casually, as if it was a normal occurrence.

"I see," Lance said, not completely surprised at her admission. "I should have known."

"Yeah. So give me a boost." Pidge gestured for him to climb on the bed. He did so, getting on all fours as Pidge used him as a boost to clamber up to the vents. She paused before entering, making sure to angle her head away, so she didn't just shout into the air vent that she was going to sneak out of her room. "Oh, and if Shiro or someone comes to check up on us, use that device over there to play my voice."

"... What?" Lance asked dumbly. "Use what to do what?" He stared at the device Pidge pointed to incredulously. "Wait… so that device has your voice?"

"Yeah… how do you think I spent so long in the air vents? Every time Shiro came to check up on me, I had Rover 2.0 press the button and a recording of my voice would say something."

"... You… what?" Lance repeated, still unable to comprehend just how intelligent the short gremlin in front of him was. "You recorded yourself to play- didn't Shiro realize that it was a recording?"

"Eventually. But I have different recordings. And only use it if he asks for me," Pidge instructed. Lance nodded, still a bit shocked.

"Okay…"

"You are able to do it, right?" Pidge asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean Rover 2.0 could do it and he was a triangular pyramid. You have fingers so you have the automatic advantage."

"O-of course I can do it!" Lance sputtered, offended. "Now go before you miss the entire conversation!"

"Okay," Pidge said, "all you have to do is press the 'on' button."

"I get it! Now go, you're heavy!" Lance grunted, his back straining from the effort of keeping Pidge's weight up. Pidge hopped into the vent and crawled through.

Lance straightened and limped over to the device, all the while grumbling saltily to himself. "Of course I can press the on button. Rover can do it. So I should be able to with my fingers."

He turned the device in his hand and jumped as he accidentally hit the on button and Pidge's voice blasted out, "Hey, Shiro! I'm right here!"

Lance fumbled with the device, trying to turn it off and smacked the off button, throwing the device on the bed. "Oh quiznak," he muttered, his hand pressed against his heaving chest, trying to keep his heart from jumping out of his chest.

* * *

Pidge was army-crawling through the air vents towards the loud noises coming from one side of the Tower. She finally came to a stop at the correct air vent, peering through it to see everyone in the lounge, huddled around the table and Robin pacing in front of it, yelling at Keith. She quickly turned on her laptop and pressed the recording button just as Robin's yelling reached the height of its volume.

"Keith! Are you stupid?!" Robin shouted, his eyes narrowed, while stomping around.

"It's the only choice I have!" Keith yelled back, his entire body tense. "Otherwise Pidge and Lance will die!" Matt visibly tensed from his position on the couch, staring at his lap. It was hard to tell that he had been chatting so enthusiastically with Pidge not even ten minutes prior.

Pidge's eyes narrowed. So the reason that they were excluding her and Lance was because they were talking about them.

"You're accepting an apprenticeship from Slade!"

Pidge's eyebrows furrowed. Who the hell is Slade and why's Keith becoming his apprentice? It hit her not even a moment later that Slade was the evil guy Robin kept mentioning—this universe's Zarkon. Pidge's eyes widened and her heart leaped into her throat as all the blood in her face drained.

"I have to! Pidge and Lance will die otherwise! And I refuse to let _my_ _family_ die!" At this point, Keith's face had begun to redden and he got up, slamming his hands on the table.

Pidge felt a warm fuzzy feeling at Keith's referral to them as family but she was still mortified to be the cause of Keith recklessly apprenticing under some lunatic.

"Slade is dangerous! I've been his apprentice before and I know what it's like!" Robin grabbed the collar of Keith's jacket and pulled him closer to him over the table.

"Well then you know the reason I have to do it!" Keith's voice quieted down and he swallowed heavily. "You know what it's like to do something in order to keep your loved ones safe."

Robin's eyes softened and he released Keith. His entire body seemed to just fold into itself as he sat back down on the couch. "Yeah… I understand the feeling all too well."

Not being able to handle any more of this, Pidge slammed her laptop shut and hurriedly scurried back to Lance, tears forming in her eyes. She burst out into the room and scared Lance as she tumbled onto the bed, almost sobbing.

"Pidge, what the quiznak?!" Lance shrieked, jumping back. He then noticed the tears and his heart almost stopped. "Wha- what's wrong, Pidge?" Lance whispered, drawing Pidge into a hug. "Shh, don't cry. It's okay."

"Lance-" Pidge's voice was choked up and she let out a quiet sob as she buried her face into Lance's shirt. "It- they were-"

"Shh," Lance said soothingly, "tell me about it later. First, let out all your tears."

Pidge's body, wracked with sobs, wrapped around Lance and melted into his embrace as he stroked her hair and whispered comforting words into her ear. She bunched up his shirt in her fists as she held onto him tightly.

After a moment, she pulled away, her face red and puffy as she wiped away the tears and snot covering her face.

"So," Lance said calmly, examining Pidge's face for signs of any more tears, "what made you cry so much?"

"I… just listen." Pidge pressed the play button on her laptop and the recorded conversation flowed out of the speakers and into Lance's ears, seeping into his brain and the darker parts of his mind, making itself at home there.

"Who the quiznak is Slade?" Lance asked, his mouth dry as a bad taste crept into his mouth.

"He's… the Titans' main enemy…I'm assuming…" Pidge said quietly, her eyes dropping to the bed sheets.

"Keith is…" Lance said numbly, his hands that were stroking Pidge's head falling into his lap.

"For us," Pidge finished glumly.

"We… we're the reason he's putting himself in danger?" Lance said, eyes dropping. "It's our fault?"

Pidge wanted to but she couldn't find the words to comfort Lance, because she too, believed it was their fault.

"No…" Lance muttered in horror. "Keith can't accept an apprenticeship to Slade for us! I'm not worth it… I'm not important enough for him to sacrifice his life for… He's more useful to Voltron than I am… he should let me die." With every muttered phrase, his hands gripped his head tighter and tighter as if trying to gouge into his skull.

Pidge gaped at him before shaking him violently. "That's not true!" she shrieked, continuously jostling him to dislodge his hands from his head. A small voice reminded her of how gentle he was with her when he tried to comfort her, but she shoved that voice away and continued roughly shaking Lance's shoulders.

"We all need you!" She wasn't quite sure if he had attempted to respond or not but she was determined to get the fact that he was needed into his thick skull. "Not only can we not form Voltron without you but you're also my brother!" Pidge said desperately, stopping her rough treatment of him. "I… I won't be able to handle it if you're gone." Pidge laid her head against Lance's shoulder, her tears coming back with a vengeance. "I already had to lose Matt and Shiro and even Keith. Don't make me lose you too."

"Pidge-"

"No!" Pidge yelled, silencing whatever self-deprecating phrase he was about to sprout out. "You're one of the most important people here! Yeah, I'm the child genius and Keith and Shiro are the perfect pilots and Hunk is the cook but you're the _heart_ of our team!" Pidge took a deep breath in order to keep her tears from pouring. "You make everyone laugh with your dumb humor and you're the only one that can make stupid jokes in serious situations and you're the only one who can hate Lotor with me!"

Despite himself, Lance let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, no one else can listen to you rant about Lotor and agree enthusiastically."

Pidge nodded. "Exactly. So you can't die. I forbid it. In fact, you have to pinky swear you will not say bad things about yourself and you will not sacrifice yourself because you don't think you're worth it."

Lance smiled softly and linked pinkies with her, pulling her in close for a hug. "Thanks, Pidge."

"Only returning the favor, Lance," Pidge responded, hugging him tightly.

* * *

"So do we agree?" Robin asked, looking at Keith.

"Yeah."

"Good idea, Hunk," Shiro praised, patting the blushing boy on the back.

"So Keith will be a double spy?" Robin asked, looking around for any sign of disagreement. When he found none, he nodded. "I guess it's final."

* * *

"Keith!" Pidge yelled, stumbling up to him angrily. Keith watched her in slight amusement and worry as she attempted to stomp but ended up tripping over herself. He steadied her by the shoulders and went to make a light hearted comment about her balance and how he was glad that she was finally out and about, but was unable to as she aggressively shrugged his hands off.

After Shiro had unlocked the door, Lance and Pidge refused to talk to anyone for an hour and finally, it appeared the Pidge was ready to talk to people again. Although Keith didn't really think that she simply wanted to 'talk'.

"Keith-" she looked around and saw everyone staring at her. "Come with me."

She attempted to drag him away as she pulled on his arm but Keith didn't move. He started walking in the direction of her pull in order to make her feel better. Hunk and Shiro exchanged looks and decided to follow them to see what Pidge was so fired up about.

Once they had reached a quiet hallway, Pidge rounded on Keith and shoved her finger into his chest. "You- you decided to become Slade's apprentice?!"

Keith blinked in surprise, nearly stumbling with how quickly he was forced to stop. "How did you-"

"Air vents," Pidge said dismissively, hardening her gaze into a glare a second later. "Don't try and change the subject. Why did you decide to do it?"

"Pidge, maybe you should-" Shiro tried to intervene, stepping forward with an outstretched hand.

"No!" Pidge slapped his hand away and remained angrily staring at a frozen Keith. "You broke your promise to me!"

Keith remembered exactly what she was talking about and realized why she was so angry. "Technically, I never promised," he countered, Pidge beginning to provoke his ire.

"You said you wouldn't be an idiot!" Pidge's continuous jabs started lessening and Pidge sniffled. She pulled away, her glare melting away with the sudden brimming of tears that made her honey colored eyes glisten alarmingly.

"I'm not being an idiot-"

"You're going to work for Slade…" Pidge looked to the side, blinking away her tears so Keith wouldn't see her cry. "I'd say that classifies as idiocy." She tried to add a bitter bite to her words, although her voice cracking lessened the effect.

"I'm doing this for you and Lance!" Keith yelled, his fists clenching. A small voice in his head advised him to back off as Pidge had only just revealed herself after a very long hour and snapping at her wasn't the best choice. Yet he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. He was under too much stress with his forced decision and having Pidge shove more guilt on his shoulders only made it worse.

"You're putting yourself at risk of dying for us?" Pidge retorted. "Just for a small chance of a cure?"

He felt his metaphorical hackles rise, the bubbling anger clogging his throat with too many words to be said at once. He could feel himself pushed to the breaking point, and before he could bite his tongue, to stop himself from jumping over that line, the words broke free. "Yes, I would, Pidge! I _considered_ you as a sister!" Keith's fury didn't die even as Pidge's irate expression melted into shame. "Or should I just let you die?"

Pidge's shame turned back into anger and she spat back, "Maybe you should, seeing as you no longer consider me family!" Her voice raised an octave too high and cracked, her rage mixed with sudden crushing despair slicing through her previously even volume.

Before Keith could respond, Pidge turned on her heel and left. Keith's heart dropped to his feet and he cradled his head in his hands. "What have I done?" he whispered, the tension in his shoulders melting away like butter.

Matt, having just arrived, grimaced. He knew firsthand how long Pidge held grudges for. Despite her short height, she sure had a long memory.

"It'll be fine, Keith," Hunk said hesitantly, stepping forward to make himself known. "I'm sure Pidge will forgive you."

* * *

She didn't. In fact, for the next few days, she refused to even look at him, much less speak to him. No matter how hard he tried to talk to her, Lance would interrupt and draw his attention away so Pidge could make a speedy escape back to her room. It left Keith with a hollow feeling in his chest, only deepening when he couldn't seem to fill it. He knew he had to apologize, but she wouldn't give him a chance! He spotted her down the hall and felt a sense of hope flutter when he noticed Lance wasn't anywhere nearby. He moved to talk to her, her name on the tip of his tongue, but she noticed too soon, and was gone again.

He ran a gloved hand through his bangs, letting out a sigh as Hunk appeared behind him. He placed a comforting hand on his shoulder that Keith begrudgingly accepted.

"You were saying?" Keith grumbled to Hunk after Pidge escaped from him once again. "Where's the forgiveness you preached about?"

"Um… deep, deep, deep inside?" Hunk said sheepishly. He offered a small smile in hope of easing the boy's tension, although it was in vain.

"Hey, Keith," Lance said, popping up behind the Red Paladin and scaring him, an unreadable expression on his face, "quit bugging Pidge."

"I- I need to-" Keith turned and fumbled with what to say, hoping to get Lance to help him instead of act as the wedge between them. Though, he knew that it was just wishful thinking; Lance would always lean towards comforting the member who needed it most. In this scenario, Pidge was worse off than Keith in a number of ways.

"You need to quit hounding her," Lance said, his face an uncharacteristic mask of stone. "She's hurt and needs time to heal."

"But-"

"Did you not think of how your actions might have affected us?" Lance interrupted quietly, his face melting with various degrees of emotion, drawing light to what this was truly about. "I'm not completely sure about Pidge, but your actions… made me feel terrible," Lance said vaguely, averting his eyes.

Keith flinched. "I… I didn't mean-"

"Lance, that's enough," Shiro said sternly, stepping forward as he noticed Keith's expression breaking down more and more. "Keith is doing this for both yours and Pidge's sake. Don't put the blame on him."

Adam came up from behind Shiro and pierced Lance with a hard look, frowning. "Lance, you're being unreasonable."

Lance's eyes went wide before he quickly covered that up with a laugh. His laugh resonated within their bones as the fakeness burned their very soul. He plastered a large smile on his face. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry, Keith! I know this is hard!" With the same large smile stuck on his face, Lance walked away quickly, not giving them a chance to respond. They all noticed how his posture seemed to slump halfway down the hall, his arms moving to hug himself with hunched shoulders as he shuffled back to his room.

"I feel like we just made a huge mistake," Shiro muttered, guilt pooling in his gut and instant regret rearing its ugly head to slap Shiro in the face.

Keith sighed. "Obviously all those bonding times you tortured us with have done nothing."

He walked away down the hall, going in the opposite direction of Lance. He'd try again later. He'd just have to hope that his chance to prove he meant none of what he said would come soon.


End file.
